Converging Roads
by Glaux Bryonia
Summary: Sasuke died. He didn't like it, but he acknowledged that that was the way of the world. Waking up afterwards with a masked monster looming over him, however, lay not in line with his expectations. Goddamn afterlife.
1. Chapter 1

**This has been sitting on my computer for quite a while, but the first chapter is finally finished! Enjoy!**

* * *

 _Blood._

 _Screams._

 _Shouting orders, retreat, retreat, this one is too strong for you!-_

 _Endless singing of steel, roaring flames and howling wind. Spots dancing in his vision, white hot pain searing through his skull, something the temperature of the Land of Iron in midwinter sinking into his chest even when he could feel his own blade slice through flesh and bone-_

XXX(xxxx)XXX(xxxx)XXX(xxxx)XXX

 _Blink._

Green. Lots of green, with blue shimmering in and out of view between the gaps. Like a forest canopy. Hazy and blurry and what _was_ that white in the corner of his eye-?

 _Blink._

Green blocked out by shadowed ivory, the sound of a huge beast shuffling near him and the oddest warbled snickers as something leaned over him.

 _Blink._

What. The actual. _Fuck?!_

A mask. A toothed mask, reminding him very much of a skull, attached to a body like a gorilla that had failed to pull off an Akimichi Clan technique the right way, and it had the audacity to _laugh at him._

 _Oh, you're_ so _dead._

He was pretty sure he'd just died in a rather painful and exhausting way, was kind of upset about failing his team, was ticked off as hell _at the same_ _time_ (never a good combination), and he'd just left a battleground. His reflexes were very much alive and kicking, and itching for blood. He didn't particularly care from where. So it wasn't that much of a surprise that the first thing he did was shove a Chidori through the leering grin on the skull-like face.

Or try to. His hand cracked against bone, not even penetrating to the first knuckle and without a hint of the blue lightning he had tried to create.

… _Oh, ashes and death,_ Sasuke thought numbly. _Someone up there hates me._

His fingers hurt like hell and when the monster reared back shrieking with rage he could feel the edges of fractured bone dig into his fingertips when they were yanked out.

Cursing, Sasuke rolled away from under a violent claw-tipped swipe, fluidly continuing the motion and getting on his feet in time to avoid a glowing red blast from the creature's mouth. He swore in his head. _Son of a- Was that raw chakra? Bit like the Tailed Beasts' energy orbs. Thank the Kami it was a lot weaker._ The plain green yukata – and whoever put _that_ on him would learn, painfully, that Uchiha Sasuke was not someone to mess with – he was wearing hindered him for a moment until he adapted his movements to the restrictions that came with such a garment.

Quickly he tried to gather chakra for a proper Chidori, but the energy that used to rise to his call fast as quicksilver was now as unyielding as thick treacle stuck in a straw. It was like discovering he could no longer breathe when he really, desperately needed to.

He hadn't been this close to panicking since the death of his family.

 _Breathe,_ he told himself, forcing his body to keep dodging the beast's wild attacks. _There has to be a reason-_

If he hadn't been so busy he would have slapped himself.

 _You're_ dead, _moron,_ Sasuke reminded himself _._ Chakra was a mix between physical and spiritual energy. With the physical aspect _gone…_

 _I need a weapon._

A hurried pat-down proved that the belief that you could take some of your most important worldly possessions with you in death was just a pleasant fairytale to make you feel a little better about the inevitable. Clearly his day hadn't been bad enough yet.

Only one thing left to try before he'd have to resort to fists and feet. Given how tough the mask had been he _really_ didn't want to have to do that. He'd probably break something.

This time he ignored the physical aspect and reached with both hands for his spiritual energy. It was like drawing water from a river for a large-scale Suiton for the first time. It fought back, slipping through his fingers and escaping his hold.

Clenching his jaw while vaulting over the monster's back he concentrated hard, solidified his mental grip on the energy and _pulled._

For a moment nothing happened. Then-

It was like a great dam breaking.

Electric blue energy erupted around him, whispering with the sound of a hundred Chidori. When he channeled the resisting energy into his hand it _warped,_ twisting and coalescing into a familiar shape, becoming solid steel and a silk-wrapped hilt.

Only reflexes prevented him dropping the katana in bewilderment.

 _What the-?!_

Questions _l_ _ater,_ he firmly told himself.

Landing lightly on his feet he moved to attack. He hadn't planned for his Chidori to turn into an all-too-real blade – and how _that_ had happened he _would_ find out – but he wasn't about to look a gift horse in the mouth. And because his day had royally sucked so far, he took a vindictive pleasure in burying his new sword in the mask's left eye hole.

After that is was just a matter of hacking away until he felt a little better.

Several violent minutes later Sasuke brought his slightly accelerated breath under control with practiced ease, flicking drops of crimson from gleaming metal.

Now somewhat more composed, he inspected the katana. It was beautiful in it's simplicity. Smooth as a mirror, with a flawless edge that had sliced through rock-hard bone like a heated knife through butter. The smoke-gray steel carried not a hint of staining from the blood that had coated it. The only disappointment was the tsuba, which was a circular, openwork disc made from some kind of silver alloy, judging from the gleaming near-white color.

Sasuke scowled at it. Honestly? silver? Sure, it was pretty, but _if_ there had to be a tsuba – which Sasuke preferred not, given how easily it could be used against you – Sasuke preferred matt steel. Far more reliable and a lot less eye-catching.

Sasuke glared at the annoying piece of metal for a moment, deciding that as soon as he got the chance he would get rid of it. Then he blinked, his mind finally registering the design.

He couldn't help it. His jaw dropped.

… _Seriously?_

There was no doubt in his mind; this had to be _someone's_ joke. This thing was too personalized to be a coincidence, and that was taking the way it had seemingly appeared straight from his chakra into consideration.

Incredulously, Sasuke stared at the highly stylized pattern that he would recognize even if he ended up blind, demented, and unable to lift even the smallest senbon.

One darkened ring represented the rim of the iris, and encircled three darkened tomoe arranged in a perfect circle. The tomoe might be bigger, the hooks longer, and connected to the outer ring with gleaming, silver-white, stylized lightning, but Sasuke knew the characteristic shapes of the Sharingan like the back of his hand.

… Okay, maybe he wouldn't get rid of the tsuba. He had to keep it around so he could figure out who to thank for the timely gift, and then kick their asses for making it too personal and ornamental.

He shook of his irritation and swung the weapon, familiarizing himself with its length and weight, and blinked, pleasantly surprised. It was flawless. Whoever had forged it might be a flamboyant bastard, but that same person was also a true master smith, and Sasuke could overlook the former to appreciate the latter. If he was going to deal with a flashy primary weapon then anything less than top quality was unacceptable.

And disregarding its looks, Sasuke freely admitted the satisfaction he felt when he realized the night-blue hilt fitted into his hand as if it had always belonged there.

Despite everything Sasuke smirked. At least he'd gotten _one_ nice surprise.

And then the severity of his current situation hit him.

He was stuck in a place he _didn't know_ with only a _katana._ He didn't have access to his chakra and had no idea how to use unmixed spiritual energy. It was obvious it that though there were similarities, it did _not_ work the same way as chakra. In short, he was well and truly screwed.

Damn.

Tiredly he rubbed his eyes. Damn it all. He had failed. Failed the mission, failed his team, failed the people that were waiting for his return. Ashes and fire, Naruto was going to _kill_ him. It was fortunate that knowing the blonde's luck he'd have a couple of decades to prepare before Naruto would bite the dust as well. Prepare, because he was sure Naruto would place kicking his ass at the top of his to-do list once he'd arrived. Curse those S-class missing-nin, when he found out who was responsible for that blinding jutsu he was going to tear them a new one. And take his time doing so.

 _Later. Just deal with it... later._ There were more pressing matters to address.

Sasuke inspected the corpse of the... whatever it was. _Definitely_ not human. A Summon? If it was he wasn't impressed. Why it was falling apart like that? When the corpses of Summons disappeared they usually did so in one go and a puff of smoke, not this weird dissipating thing. Maybe it was a special characteristic, meant to hinder their opponents even after death?

He frowned. A Summon indicated a summoner. In his current condition that meant the situation could go belly-up damn fast. Though he couldn't sense any chakra signature. Did his death mess up his chakra sensing as well? If so, then he was in even more trouble than he'd thought.

He sighed, eyes returning to his new blade. At least he had a weapon. Even if he had no idea how. He'd really have to figure that out. Some additional kunai or exploding tags would be nice. A bit curious he looked around for a matching saya. Hey, if a high quality katana could appear out of thin air, why not a scabbard as well?

Nothing.

Of. Course. As if reality would be practical enough to offer a sheath for a weapon that could easily slice through his leg if he tried carrying it without one. Granted, he knew several ways to deal – learned in ANBU because sheaths tended to get busted if you used them for a last-ditch defense – but it would be troublesome, as a certain Nara would put it, and might be bad for the blade in the long run.

He let out a silent sigh. Time to experiment again. Concentrating, Sasuke called forth his spiritual energy. It came, wild and unpredictable as meltwater in spring; nothing like the smooth, steady stream his chakra had been. It was... irritating, to put it mildly.

Ignoring the instability for now, he tried to gather the unruly energy in something that somewhat resembled his Chidori. After all, that had been how he'd gotten the katana, so there was a chance it might give him a matching saya this time. Three times the energy fell apart before he could get anywhere. The fourth time he managed to hold it for a couple of seconds, though unfortunately nothing appeared.

Sasuke huffed, frustrated. Sat down, thinking of what he might be doing wrong, laying the katana over his knees to study it.

He wasn't a material person, but he knew the value of quality equipment. He smiled a little. He could have done a lot worse. Still, the situation was entirely too surreal for his tastes. Kind of reminded him a little of those weird movies Naruto had insisted they'd watch in the name of team bonding. Personally Sasuke thought a good, tough mission was a far better bonding method, but the dobe had always been weird that way. Some things just didn't change.

Though he'd admit it had been kind of fun to annoy the blond loudmouth by picking on every little impossibility or overly dramatized fighting scene.

He paused, thoughtful. In fact, he did remember one where someone pulled a weapon out of thin air too. Some kind of magical girl series they'd watched because Sakura had been fed up with the more bloody movies, claiming she saw enough blood during working hours, thank you very much. She'd had a point, so they hadn't kicked up too much of a fuzz. Though they'd immediately vetoed the romance-oriented series.

It was, of course, too ridiculous for words. But if it worked, it was well worth the idiocy.

Now how did it go again? Trying to remember a scene he hadn't paid attention to he gathered his spiritual energy once more, took a moment to semi-stabilize it, and slowly moved his hand over the naked steel.

Nothing.

Well, he couldn't say he was really surprised. Annoyed, maybe, but not surprised. Though perhaps it was for the better that it hadn't worked, Sasuke mused. Just imagining the reactions of his friends if they would have found out he'd tried to imitate a _magical girl_ was mortifying enough. They would have never, _ever_ let him live it down had it actually worked. He shuddered mentally. No, best to forget about the entire attempt. That way, his secret would be safe.

He almost jumped when his stomach gurgled, to his annoyance and slight humiliation. He had thought he had eliminated that noisy habit during ANBU training. Exactly how long had he been out?

No way to find out, unfortunately. Ashes, he couldn't even be sure that the passage of time in the world of the living would coincide with the passage of time in world of the dead.

Sasuke rubbed his forehead, feeling a headache coming up.

His first priority was to take stock of his situation and figure out exactly what he could expect from the afterlife. It clearly wasn't a safe place. And maybe he could find some food and a place to crash for the night, though he could deal with camping if he had to. Sasuke was pretty sure he could still move quietly enough to get the drop on wild animals, even without chakra to keep leaves and twigs from making noise.

Maybe he could find some Konoha ninja. With everything that had happened, he wouldn't be surprised if the Hidden Villages existed in this world as well. Perhaps even people he knew...

He paused.

Realization hit him like a ton of bricks, initiating a stormy domino-effect of hope, joy, grief, and frightened anticipation in his heart. His eyes widened.

 _Oh, Great Kami above._

Of course. Why hadn't he immediately thought of this? His friends and comrades might be out of his reach, but with death came the one opportunity he'd longed for ever since he was seven.

He could meet his Clan again.

He took a deep breath, tried to get his hands to stop shaking, and smiled tremulously. His eyes prickled and he let out a shaky laugh. He could see them again. Talk to them again. His father, his mother, his cousins- and the one he wanted to meet most of all.

 _Itachi._

Kami, somewhere in this world was probably an entire Uchiha Village. The Uchiha were an old Clan, and unless the afterlife also knew death – that would be irony at its finest – there were probably so many of them they could easily have their own town. So many people he had never known that well – or at all – but all family, and all right here. The only thing Sasuke would have to do was find them.

Still smiling, Sasuke ripped off a long strip of cloth from his kimono to secure his katana to his person until he could find something better, a new purpose blazing in his heart, warming him from the core of his being to the very tips of his toes. To have a goal and people who would welcome you without question made a huge difference, Sasuke mused. Because suddenly, you were no longer lost.

Heh. Maybe being dead wasn't that bad.

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Well, wasn't this fantastic? The afterlife seemed to be more miserable than the living world, at least for the more morally inclined civilians. Sasuke had only been dead for about two days, and he'd already learned that the afterlife was not the slightest bit different from the living world; more like a different country than a different world, really, for all the difference death made. Who knew it was possible for dead people to die again? Talk about repetitive. It put a serious dent in his hope for an Uchiha Village, and meant his family might turn out more difficult to find than he'd first assumed. It honestly was a bit of a pity, but then again, maybe he should have expected it. Just imagining how crowed it would be if everyone who died just kept hanging around made him grimace. They'd be packed like sardines, no doubt.

Sasuke suppressed a disdainful frown as he spotted another pitiful human form. Hunched over, filthy, and clearly poor as the dirt it sat in, the beggar had his hand raised and was begging for compassion from indifferent passers-by. The area he had ended up in was as poor and decrepit as the civilian areas around Amegakure used to be during the worst of the Second Great Shinobi War. Sasuke hadn't expected to face this much destitution in the afterlife. He himself managed to get by, especially once he discovered how rare the ability to fight the weird monsters was, but most people didn't. Or if they did, they probably managed only because they took the more unsavory jobs. There certainly were a lot of thugs around, but Sasuke could easily handle those. Most seemed able to recognize dangerous people and preferred to go after weaker prey, so Sasuke was rarely bothered.

The few idiots that did, well, no one would miss them.

He glared at the drink in front of him. It was of terrible quality and smelled as if something had died in it. But it was the only beverage poured in this bar, and this bar was the only one in this godforsaken hellhole he'd ended up in today, and he needed any rumors he could catch to get a better understanding of the afterlife. Pretending to be just an ordinary customer was the best way to get an ear in.

Looking around the Uchiha had to suppress a disgusted sneer. The bar was as bad as the drinks it poured. Sasuke hadn't bothered to memorize its name, as he'd already vowed to leave as soon as he'd decided which way he'd go. So far, he hadn't caught any useful information aside from some rumors of local monster haunts, which were only mildly useful in the sense that he now knew where to offer his services in exchange for food and other necessities.

At least he'd finally caught the name of this land and, incidentally, he'd learned enough to get an idea of the general layout. The area he had arrived in was called Kakou, which was a fairly humorous name if you liked that kind of joke. The 79th district of East Rukongai certainly didn't smell like flowers from where he was sitting. But the mere fact that this place was located east of whatever place lay at the center-point, allowed Sasuke to orientate himself somewhat.

For now he would assume that the districts were counted semi-linearly with the low numbers near the central point and the high numbers on the outside, or vice versa. It would be simple to figure out which one was correct, or, if neither was, to find out whether there was a more complicated system in place. All he had to do was travel west – for now Sasuke assumed that the world of the dead was at least similar enough to the world of the living for the cardinal directions to be the same – and see which number the next district had. It was a simple enough plan. He only hoped the districts weren't ridiculously big. He didn't feel like traveling for months, especially because he wasn't even sure that whatever place was at the center was worth traveling to. He hadn't yet found people willing to talk about it, though someone _had_ mentioned a city. Whether that one was at the center though...

With a sigh the Uchiha knocked back the disgusting beverage, showing no outside sign of the shudder of revulsion that passed though him. Sasuke prayed he would never have to find out what had been in the drink, if only because that would mean it hadn't been dangerous enough to have consequences.

Snatches of hushed conversations drifted through the room, one in conversation particular catching Sasuke's attention. Closing his eyes he pricked his ears, having to concentrate to make out the words over the murmurs of the rest of the clientèle.

"-bad business. Those damn no-good Shinigami are shirking their supposed _duties_ as usual. Those incompetent bastards always claim to fight the monsters but no one ever sees them around here. Just because they got a bit of power they think they can get away with lying-"

After that the men were only complaining and Sasuke quit listening, quite sure no useful information would leave their lips anytime soon. The Uchiha scowled. He had been here the entire afternoon and still hadn't heard anything _truly_ useful. No hints for his real questions, like how weapons appeared out of nowhere or how best to use his spiritual energy. Hours wasted drinking vile liquids he wouldn't offer a dog, listening to inane blather from people too pathetic to take their fate in their own hands. Not a shred of useful intel about his family or even shinobi in general to be found neither here nor in the previous village, only mentions of monster sightings and complains about Shinigami that apparently weren't doing their jobs.

It was that Sasuke knew he was dead, otherwise he would have written off those complains as the driveling of drunkards. He still wasn't entirely sure he believed them, given that he hadn't seen anything that even remotely met his expectation of a death god.

Plus, _he_ could fight the monsters perfectly fine, and he was damn sure he wasn't a Shinigami. He'd think choosing such an occupation would be a rather memorable occasion, and he certainly couldn't remember anything like that. Though he could admit imagining his team's faces if he'd come pick them up _personally_ was pretty amusing. After everything that had happened, seeing them shocked had become increasingly rare.

The Uchiha shook his head at his own thoughts. Deciding he had frittered away more than enough time he rose from his seat, picking up the thick cane he had leaned against the edge of the table.

The cane was actually his sword in disguise. Sasuke had hidden it by placing it between two lengthwise halves of a willow branch – primed with a broad, shallow groove on the inside of one of the halves to provide room for the blade – and tying them together, wrapping a piece of cloth around the hilt and tsuba to disguise the fact that they weren't simply a part of the branch. Basically it was a crude imitation of a shikomizue. Drawing it had to be done with a lot of care, but that was only a slight hindrance. If there was truly an emergency he would just slice through the bindings; they could easily be repaired afterwards. It was a hassle but this way people were far less wary of him, which made gathering information a lot easier. Civilians always got irritatingly jumpy from people with weapons.

Sasuke ran his hand over the bulge beneath the cloth, still miffed that he hadn't been able to remove the tsuba. Not for lack of trying either. He had spent most of his time in the previous village trying to find the right tools to take a sword apart without damaging it – it had involved a lot of searching and stealing – only for him to find out after five failed attempts to lift one of the pins keeping the blade secure in the hilt, that the katana was a _whole._ Not the meticulously interlocking pieces he was used to, no, instead the hilt, the tsuba, the pins securing the blade inside the hilt, and _ashes_ even the hilt's silk- and ray-skin wrappings! – each and every little part of the katana was fused with the others as if welded. Sasuke would have had to employ heavy-handed force to separate them.

As much as the tsuba annoyed him, Sasuke wasn't going to damage his only weapon to get rid of it.

Adopting an air of unhurried nonchalance he moved to the exit at a sedate pace, each step a fluid glide that hid the fact that he was using his toes to locate wooden splinters and shards of pottery in the dirt that made up the floor of this establishment. The Uchiha had no desire to wound himself on whatever trash was left on the ground here. He discreetly nudged a few pieces of debris out of his way before he put his foot down, careful not to let anyone notice his actions lest they'd decide his sense of self-preservation was insulting. It was ridiculous, but then again, that was humanity for you. Some people used the most idiotic excuses to pick a fight and he didn't feel like killing another moron today.

Honestly, if only the lands of the dead had some decent footwear he wouldn't need to bother. Yesterday it had become clear that he would have to travel bare-foot, because no one seemed to have anything remotely worth buying. It had annoyed him for quite a while until he'd thrown his hands up and had given up looking. His feet had gotten used to it soon enough.

The rags they called clothing here were almost as bad. He'd had to cut the good bits out of several articles of clothing – which, as he'd already said, didn't really deserve to be called clothing – and sew them together into something a bit more presentable when he'd decided he really wanted some pants while traveling through treetops. Good thing he had learned how in case he'd get stuck on a mission and couldn't get replacements or something. It was a bit different from stitching a wound closed, though not too much. His Sharingan had let him copy the different techniques easily.

Speaking of his Sharingan, _damn_ if that wasn't another source of frustration. He'd gotten the hang of using his spiritual energy enough for basic techniques like tree- and water-walking – at least enough to stay standing; moving at speed was still problematic – which had helped him smoothen the flow of the untrained energy, but no matter what he tried, his Sharingan refused to activate. Actually, he wasn't even sure he still had it, because his previously black eyes seemed permanently stuck on Sharingan red without a sign of the three signature tomoe around the pupil. He'd discovered that when a civilian had screamed right in his face when she'd looked him in the eye, prompting him to seek out a mirror. Ashes and death, he'd been so angry. Not a good combination with the sudden fear he might have lost his valuable Kekkei Genkai.

It was as if he'd lost a part of himself.

Oddly enough, the Sharingan seemed to be at least still somewhat present. His vision was as clinical and piercingly analyzing as it was with the Sharingan activated, but the ability to translate what he'd _seen_ into something he could immediately _use_ seemed to be lost – or at least greatly diminished, he wasn't sure yet. It was as if his Kekkei Genkai had been reduced to an exceptionally thorough eidetic memory. And Mangekyou Sharingan was of course completely out of the question without the rudimentary version.

Not that Sasuke really missed the Mangekyou. The costs had been high when he first got it and had, like an idiot, used it too regularly, and after receiving his brother's eyes he hadn't been able to use it much anymore. It brought up too many bad memories of Itachi and their pasts, and the sacrifices of countless people for the sake of peace. Over the years it had become more and more a technique meant for grave emergencies only.

Sasuke ran his fingers over his eyes in an subconscious reflex to dispel the block on his bloodline abilities – which was fast becoming an undesirable habit; he made a mental note to stop it before that actually happened – burying the sense of grief and loss that came with it with an ease learned during numerous missions ending in wounds he might-or-might-not survive with all his limbs intact.

Of course, he had to admit an eidetic memory was better than nothing, but that didn't mean the Uchiha was happy about it. And of course, after having earned himself quite a reputation before and during the Great War there were few opponents who _didn't_ have some sort of contingency plans for the odd chance they'd have to face him, but that didn't mean he didn't have any use for his Kekkei Genkai anymore. An advantage was still an advantage, even if people figured out ways around it, and now that advantage was _gone_.

Well, mostly gone.

Sasuke absently wondered how the rest of his family was dealing with it. He paused and snickered. Probably mortified beyond belief. Not everyone though, if his memories could be trusted. His mother and Shisui would probably be okay with it, and he knew Itachi was, seeing how his older brother never put that much value in his ability anyway. It was handy, sure, but countless shinobi functioned perfectly well without it.

Though Sasuke was willing to bet that his brother was at least missing it. There was no denying that the Sharingan had played a major roll in their lives, and no shinobi would be comfortable with losing such an important core-ability.

Which reminded him he hadn't really seen any other shinobi around. Or even _traces_ of shinobi. Granted, he hadn't been here for more than a few days, but nonetheless he had expected at least to have stumbled across people who, if not shinobi themselves, at least were aware of their existence.

The best explanation he'd been able to come up with was that he had ended up in a predominantly civilian area, which was why he had hidden his katana in a crude imitation of a shikomizue in the first place. But still, even in a civilian area there should have at least been _some_ signs, if only things like little hidden places that kept an ear out for trouble and did some work as emergency suppliers when people happened to pass through, or lingering scars in the buildings or landscape caused by old battles. Thrown kunai left very distinctive markings and Sasuke knew them so well he could recognize them even on a cloudy, moonless night, no matter how unobtrusive the gashes became after a few years.

But there was _nothing_. That, far more than anything else, got Sasuke on edge.

 _Maybe I should try the local market._

Because there was one thing he was sure of: he _couldn't_ be the only shinobi around here. And he _was_ going to find out why he couldn't find anyone.

XXX(xxxx)XXX(xxxx)XXX(xxxx)XXX

So far, the market was as useless as the bar, though at least it had a larger variety of products. Not that the quality was that much better, but at least most landed in the range of 'edible' _,_ instead of _'_ risk of food-poisoning'.

He was calmly sifting through the useless drivel of the people around him in search for information when a flutter of black in the corner of his eye caught his attention. Nonchalantly he stepped towards a vendor, subtly maneuvering so he could observe the new arrivals without being too obvious. Sasuke noticed very few others bothered with subtlety, and most the people visiting the market were openly shooting the new arrivals surprisingly dark looks. Falling in line with the the crowd's behavior, Sasuke quit hiding his movements and blatantly took stock of the swords, the durable black kosode and hakama each of them wore instead of the common kimono, and the clear signs of combat training in each of them _._ And the footwear, the Uchiha noted with slight envy. Each a rarity on its own, combined the strangers might as well have sent up fireworks spelling 'rich travelers here!'.

Absently he wondered how long it would take until people would scrape enough courage together to attempt to mug them.

One of them turned his head in his direction and Sasuke shifted, shielding his own hidden katana from the traveler's eyes with his body. The man was trained so there was a chance he would recognize it for what it was, and Sasuke saw no need to tip his hand early. Keeping up his act as part of the crowd he pretended to lose interest and picked up a pitiful little apple, still green in a couple of places and already wrinkled. If he cooked it in the skin it would probably be okay to eat. Not that he planned to.

Finally the small group had passed, seemingly unaware of the unrest that had spread in their wake. Sasuke himself was feeling quite curious. These guys were clearly not peasants, so there was a change they knew about shinobi, since they at least appeared to have access to enough money to hire some if they felt the need. Plus, if they were indeed warriors, they might have actually met some face to face, and might know more about their whereabouts. If nothing else, he wanted to know where'd they gotten their quality garments from, and as they were conveniently traveling west he wouldn't even have to change his own traveling plans much.

Sasuke smirked to himself. Seemed like the market had been a good gamble. Time for some good old-fashioned spying. He'd been getting rusty anyway.

XXX(xxxx)XXX(xxxx)XXX(xxxx)XXX

A few hours of stalking later, Sasuke had to admit that the travelers fought relatively well for non-shinobi, even if their style was far too much samurai for his tastes. Only idiots would speak to beasts as if they were human. It was not as if the masked monsters – Hollows, they'd called them – would suffer damage to morale if they yelled enough threats or if they ostentatiously executed their techniques. Though the Hollows probably did appreciate the stupidly honorable habit of not finishing an assault once a critical injury had been dealt. Really, the black-clad fighters should have known better than to let a wounded foe get his wind back.

Sasuke watched impassively as the Hollow that just got its arm cut off took revenge by slamming the one responsible through a couple of trees. The fool deserved it, in Sasuke's opinion. Maybe it would teach him not to have mercy on a downed enemy. The fool's five companions didn't seem to agree with him, giving worried yells and – idiots that they were – momentarily taking their eyes of the rampaging threat. Or rather, most of them did. Luckily for the idiots in the group, two of their people had the brains to intercept the Hollow before it could take someone else out.

Sasuke blinked in surprise when one of them started what sounded like an incantation. He straightened, focusing on the words and the glowing energy that was gathering in the woman's hand.

" _-Hadou number eleven, Tsuzuri Raiden!"_ Lightning crackled in her palm, lashing out fast as an striking cobra, a ribbon of pale yellow light that snaked around the Hollow's head and tightened. The monster stiffened as electricity raged through every cell of its body, making it collapse into a smoking heap. The woman was breathing heavily, but she won a couple of points in Sasuke's book by showing more common sense than her idiot-companion and finishing the beast off before it could recover.

Not that Sasuke was focusing on that. All he could think was, _I want that._

So what if he had a slight fixation on lightning-based jutsu? Chidori had been his favorite for years and here he hadn't yet managed to call upon the chirping technique. The one the woman had used seemed like a acceptable replacement until he could. Though the incantation sounded unnecessarily cumbersome.

Sasuke frowned thoughtfully. Maybe it was like the hand seals used for shaping jutsu. Once you were skilled enough you could skip most, even to the point you could leave them out completely if you were in a hurry and could deal with the weakened effects.

Which meant either the woman wasn't very skilled, or she'd decided she'd had enough time to fully power her jutsu. Not that he minded. It had allowed him to memorize the incantation for later experimentation.

Sasuke was still busy analyzing the words of the incantation – which sounded fairly ridiculous, but then again, he couldn't really judge since the meanings of the hand seals were fairly ridiculous too – when he was distracted by the woman using another jutsu, one that didn't need an incantation and glowed green. It was clearly intended for medical purposes. It looked so much like the healing jutsu he was used to he couldn't suppress a wave of grief-filled nostalgia. At least the woman had dark hair, or else he'd have been even more reminded of his female teammate.

… Not that they'd been much of a team the last couple of years. Sakura had been working her ass off in the hospital, having taken over Tsunade's old position in all but name because her teacher had enough on her plate with running the village, Naruto had been too busy getting groomed as the Slug Sannin's successor, and Sasuke himself had fulfilled the position of the ANBU's second in command with Kakashi as his superior. The mission that had taken his life had been the eradication of a group very much like the Akatsuki, and though he was pretty sure he'd managed to take Enten's leader with him in death, he'd still felt that he'd disappointed his old team. He hoped they hadn't taken his death too hard. That'd be just like them and would mean lots of yelling in the future.

Sasuke shook himself out of his melancholic mood. The warriors were moving again, putting up a surprisingly decent amount of speed for people untrained in the shinobi arts. He'd been caught off guard the first time he'd witnessed it. It was not yet what he'd call a real challenge – despite him having to keep up without betraying his presence – but it was still far more than he'd come to expect in a world with such a disturbing lack of traces of shinobi combat.

Soundlessly Sasuke followed, picking his way over tree branches, careful to stay out of their sight while still allowing himself to observe them. The idiot that had taken a tumble seemed to be okay, which raised his respect for the warriors a notch. Slamming through two reasonably-sized trees tended to leave lesser fighters knocked out cold, or at least aching bad enough to let it show in their movements even after getting healed. This guy had barely a limp, so either he was a lot sturdier than he appeared, or their healer was just that good. Sasuke figured it was a bit of both. A smart healer tried to preserve their chakra and wouldn't have healed the guy as thoroughly as his movements suggested.

At the end of the day they'd reached another village. The leader of the group – a guy he had hear the others call Manbou – haggled with an old man for accommodations, as the village didn't have anything even remotely resembling a hotel. Soon a deal was struck and the whole group entered the small wooden home.

Sasuke looked around, carefully taking note of relevant landmarks, before setting out to get himself some dinner. His day hadn't gone exactly as he'd planned so now he'd have to do his hunting at night instead of during the day like he'd intended that morning.

Not that it really mattered. It was a slight inconvenience at most.

Three hours later he returned, the cooked remains of two hares and a pheasant carefully tucked away as provisions for the coming days. To make sure he'd wake when the group set out in the morning he quietly climbed on the roof of their hut, wary of weak patches and very careful not to make any noises that would catch the inhabitants' attention. The wood beneath him was thin. Thin enough to let through the sound of a quiet conversation inside.

When the people speaking finally went to sleep a few minutes later, Sasuke had learned that they were Shinigami – which had made him want to scoff disbelievingly, until he remembered that he was _dead_ so actually running into a team of death gods wasn't that unlikely, even if they looked nothing like he'd expected – they were here for a mission involving the decimation of the number of Hollows in the area – and there had to be a joke in there somewhere; death gods running around _killing_ things – and they were running late returning to a place called Seireitei. They'd also be meeting up with the main group around noon tomorrow, which was led by someone they apparently greatly admired, judging from the way they were talking about their Lieutenant. Not very useful, except that the guy was called Kuchiki and was supposed to be strong.

 _Court of Pure Souls, huh?_ Sounded like the kind of place death gods might live, yes. Though he had to say these Shinigami looked very much human. They had a presence to them, sure, but more like some shinobi had whenever they forgot to hide their chakra signature. Maybe 'Shinigami' was an occupation instead of a race of otherworldly beings?

Sasuke nodded to himself. Assuming these people were representative for their kind, that was pretty likely. He suppressed a snort. To think he'd been actually _worried_ about the Shinigami, only for them to turn out to be no better than shinobi. The Uchiha shook his head. He would reserve judgment regarding the level of danger they posed until he'd seen more of them in action, but for now he would not be too concerned.

He rolled onto his side. Tomorrow he would continue following the group. Even if they didn't seem much of a challenge compared to previous opponents it would be good to know where to find Seireitei. Maybe he'd even be able to nab more information on the Shinigami's jutsu. Sasuke knew he needed something to replace his arsenal of techniques until he managed to reproduce his old ones with spiritual energy, and what he'd seen that afternoon had certainly looked promising.

Curling up on the most stable part of the roof with his sword in easy grabbing distance, the Uchiha closed his eyes and allowed himself to slip into a dreamless sleep.

Tomorrow he would hopefully get a better measure of the world he'd ended up in.

* * *

 **Translations:**

 **Kakou = fragrance of flowers**

 **Enten = scorching sun**

 **Shikomizue = prepared cane (a Japanese swordstick; also known as 'jotou', literally translated as 'staff sword')**

 **Please be so kind to leave a review.**


	2. Chapter 2

**Most of this chapter was written before I posted the story, but I had some issues with filling in the gaps. My apologies for the delay.**

 **Enjoy!**

* * *

Someone muttered 'good morning', the sound muffled and accompanied by sleepy grumbles. Sasuke blinked, quickly rising to alertness – a carefully cultivated habit – and rubbing the sleep out of his eyes, before sitting up to inspect his feet. He had meant to do that last night but without any light source besides a couple of stars he hadn't really been able to get a proper look. There were a few places where the skin was a bit reddened from the rough terrain, but nothing too serious, which was good because he had nothing but callus to protect his most important mode of transport. It would be pretty bad if he had to take time off to let them recover. It wouldn't do to lose the Shinigami now.

Silently he removed himself from the roof, relocating to one of the trees on the forest edge that allowed him clear view of the door.

Settling down in anticipation of the group's departure, he took some of the hare out of it's wrapping of leaves. Not the most brilliant of breakfasts, but certainly not the worst either. He paused his eating to take a swig out of his canteen – one of the first things he'd gotten himself after his arrival – and grimaced. He'd have to find more water soon. He stood up, stretching a bit. The villagers wouldn't be able to remain here without a water source, so with a bit of luck he could refill before the Shinigami left. If not, it wasn't as if you could be ANBU without some skill at tracking.

Water was fortunately easily found on the other side of the village; a deep well, which explained why he hadn't seen any of the usual signs of water in the area. Nice. Groundwater was sometimes better than mountain streams. Some soils easily surpassed the best artificial purifying methods. This particular well had very clear water. Sasuke refilled his canteen, taking care to avoid the newt that was sitting on the bottom of the bucket. Animals in your drink wasn't entirely sanitary but he had drunk far worse the previous days. This hardly mattered.

When he returned the Shinigami were just leaving. Taking care to remain out of their line of sight Sasuke wandered away into the nearest forest edge, nonchalant as any villager taking a routine morning stroll. Once there he circled around the village to the road he suspected they'd take, quietly resuming his position in the trees where the Shinigami were less likely to notice him, for the umpteenth time lamenting the loss of his chakra control. It was so much harder to bolster his speed without it. He had difficulties keeping up with the Shinigami while remaining hidden right now, and it grated. Following them without getting noticed was so much harder than it should have been.

Not that they were that likely to notice him anyway. They might be trained fighters, but when it came to situational awareness they had a long way to go before they could be considered on a par with shinobi. Or rather, the kind of shinobi Sasuke had thought worthwhile to put up with. They were about Genin level when it came to being observant. Given that he was used to ANBU and Kage level shinobi... Yeah. Pathetic was one way to describe it. Even with only the minimum of access to his chakra he had right now, he had little trouble traveling along unseen, and given how used he was to being able chakra during these kind of things? That was just _sad_.

Still, following them was turning out to be more interesting than wandering around aimlessly, and at least this way he had found something that _was_ worth his time. Like learning those techniques. He was _not_ facing this world with just one weapon and hand-to-hand combat. That would be idiocy of the highest degree.

It was well into noon when the forest abruptly ended in a grassy plain, the knee-high waving stalks reaching to the horizon, where a dark smudge revealing where the forest had deigned to continue again. Too far away to reach before dusk fell. Sasuke scowled. He had never been very skilled at stealth in grass plains, especially grass plains that didn't reach up to your waist or higher. That was more Kusagakure's area of expertise. Of course, before he had died he had been more than decent enough at it to fool anyone below Jounin, but at the moment his chakra was still a wreck. Getting away unnoticed when everything was covered in rustling stalks of this length was nearly impossible unless you were a master at grass-walking. Given the still unruly nature of his energies and the delicate control needed not to damage stalks while reinforcing them with your chakra, Sasuke was pretty sure he wouldn't be pulling off that trick anytime soon.

Not to mention that he didn't like the idea of spending the night in a _plain_. Say what you wanted about stereotype Konoha shinobi being too attached to their trees, but having nothing but grass that was barely tall enough to cover you even if you laid down left him feeling way too exposed.

Still, the Shinigami were clearly going to cross this plain, so if he wanted to continue following them he either had to do so close range or he had to fall back and follow their tracks.

With another annoyed look at the inconveniently short grass the Uchiha decided to back off and track them later. No need to risk cluing clueless Shinigami in on his presence. With a sigh he nestled himself among the branches of a comfortable tree, fully intending to catch up on some sleep. He'd give the Shinigami a couple of hours head-start, maybe even until the next morning. Though tracking them at night would be good practice...

After some careful contemplation Sasuke decided against that. He wanted to get a good look at the land he was traveling through. It wouldn't do to miss something just because he felt like traipsing around in the dark.

Which meant he would have all night to sleep. He shot a glance to determine the sun's position. Late afternoon. That was still pretty early. He estimated he would have about ten hours until sunrise.

He observed the Shinigami until their forms were no more than black spots lost in a sea of waving green.

Hn. That was bit too much time to spend on sleeping.

Maybe some other kind of exercise was in order. He hadn't gotten around to attempt the Shinigami woman's jutsu yet. And come to think of it, now was actually a pretty good opportunity to do exactly that.

Decision made, the Uchiha set off to find a good place to practice, preferably with some room for shots going awry and with enough surrounding foliage to hide the light of the technique.

XXX(xxxx)XXX(xxxx)XXX(xxxx)XXX

Learning a new jutsu without knowing any of the basic techniques turned out to be an exercise in frustration and was as painful as improvising the Shishirendan had been.

Sasuke scowled at his slightly smoking hands, ignoring the pain radiating from red skin and aggravated chakra channels with experienced ease as sunset covered the forest around him with autumn hues. Right now he hated his lack of a real Sharingan more than anything. He knew how the jutsu went, had _seen_ it in the finest detail, but the effortless, reflexive flow of his Kekkei Genkai carrying him through the steps was no more.

It reminded him a lot of the time he had tried to mimic his father's Goukakyuu. It was kind of pathetic, but after living with the Sharingan for so long he had forgotten exactly how much _effort_ learning had always required.

Not that Sasuke would let it deter him. His handicap would not keep him from figuring out this trick. He _would_ get it right, even if he had to burn down half the forest with the unruly lightning.

Aiming at the battered tree stump that was his target, he started the chant once more, mimicking the vocal pattern of the Shinigami woman down to the last inflection.

"Wild blazing tempest, sweep aside and disrupt! Ringing bells, razing claws, destroy! Rise from the grave. Consume the unneeded. Strangle like a firework of stars! Hadou number eleven: Tsuzuri Raiden!"

He let go, energy snapping out like a whip of lightning. But before it could reach the stump a tremor shot through the lint of light, making it fly apart in an explosive shower of sparks. Sasuke cursed as the resulting backlash singed his hands. The scabs from when he failed to break the Hollow's mask with his bare hands looked about two attempts away from being toasted off of his fingers entirely. Blood dribbled lazily over his hands.

Sasuke scoffed and flicked the drops off. How annoying.

He glared at the tree stump. His spiritual energy refused to move the way he wanted. The moment he thought he had it, it just... jumped, or twisted in a direction he didn't expect, and the jutsu would collapse like a house of cards.

Sasuke sighed, deciding to take a break, taking out a piece of roast and nibbling on it as he reviewed what he'd learned so far. He wasn't sure where he was going wrong. He _thought_ he had found all he important details, but clearly he had missed something.

Leaning back, he closed his eyes, scrutinizing the memory and everything he instinctively knew about the technique. In his mind's eye he slowly went through all the steps. Here was the fountain-like upwelling of energy, there was the twisting and braiding it into a rope on the cadence of the incantation, coiling like a spring with hair-thin lightning jumping between the arches, an then the whip-like release that somehow always shattered like hot glass dropped in ice water.

But he _had_ all those steps. Followed them exactly like he had seen. Maybe the flow wasn't as smooth and practiced as the woman's had been, but it should have been at least _functioning._

He frowned, digging deeper into the underlying layers. What was it that he'd missed? Where was the instability? He could see the way the woman's chakra had welled up, rushing from her palm like water from a faucet, curling into sun-bright braid where the energies met and mingled-

Sasuke's eyes snapped open. Of course. So basic. So _simple._ He groaned, facepalming, calling himself a hundred types of fool. No mixing. No mingling. _One_ type of chakra. Not two.

 _Get it through your thick skull that you're_ dead _, moron!_

Kami, Naruto would have been laughing his ass off had he seen this. _Not so much of a genius_ now _, are you?_

 _Well,_ Sasuke consoled himself, _at least now you know what the problem is, you can do something about it._

Gathering himself, he stood once more, grimly determined to get the technique to work. He wouldn't rest before he got it right.

XXX(xxxx)XXX(xxxx)XXX(xxxx)XXX

Nine hours later, a tired but satisfied Sasuke tracked down the Shinigami in the first bleak morning light. Treading on the footsteps of the Shinigami, Sasuke used the clear footprints to disguise his own. Any decent tracker would know that someone had taken special care not to leave his own footprints behind, but until Sasuke had a better idea of the general skill level of Shinigami he was assuming that the black-clad warriors didn't have someone that observant among them. At least, not right now. He wasn't assuming anything about the rest of their organization.

Up ahead the trail of crushed stalks disappeared into the forest edge, being replaced by broken twigs and disturbed leaves. Seemed like the Shinigami weren't concerned about paths. Then again, Sasuke hadn't seen signs of human habitation since yesterday.

It was really quite convenient. Tracking people over roads was much more difficult than tracking them through pristine woodland. If he had thought Shinigami got anything resembling a shinobi education then he would have thought that they _wanted_ him to follow them. They really were making it too easy.

Oh, well. He wouldn't complain. Being handicapped was enough of an issue already.

Sasuke found the Shinigami by following his ears. The cacophony of ringing steel, dull thuds, and monster roars was hard to miss once he had entered hearing range. As soon as he had pinpointed their location he climbed into a nice tree and prepared to watch from a safe distance.

The forest floor dipped down into a gentle slope at the foot of his tree, and was covered in wild shrubbery and a few young trees. Sasuke suspected that this slope was more unstable than it looked, if the vegetation was any indication. The clearing below was a battleground. The Shinigami were rushing around to fend off a dozen of Hollows. Swords flashed, reflecting the sunlight as the Shinigami fought valiantly against the small horde. From time to time a jutsu crashed through the fray, and Sasuke paid great attention to the only two in the group that seemed capable of using them in battle. As for the others, their fighting style really was too much samurai, so Sasuke only kept a casual eye on them. Not that Sasuke minded samurai – those of the Land of Iron had some truly skilled people among their ranks and should not be underestimated – but acting so honorable when battling monsters when you didn't have the skills to make up for that disadvantage was just asking to get killed.

Talking about asking to get killed… Sasuke's eyes narrowed, realizing that there was something odd about the way the Shinigami fought the Hollows.

Were these guys _always_ aiming for the masks? He understood not going for the chest, given that most of the monsters had a hole there and seemed perfectly fine despite it, but why the masks? Wouldn't the neck be better? It was far less armored. Yet as he watched, it was clear that the monsters regarded the masks as vital too, the way they seemed to only really try dodging when a blade was aiming for their head.

There had to be something about the masks, Sasuke decided. Otherwise they would never be the prime target.

A few more minutes of observation made clear that the Shinigami were in trouble. One of the more foolish ones had acquired a large gash in his side that was bleeding heavily and rendered him incapable of getting up. The others were guarding him to their best abilities, but it was obvious that their wounded teammate was a liability they couldn't afford.

Pity, Sasuke thought dispassionately. He had wanted to see their superior. It could only be a good thing to be capable of recognizing a Shinigami Lieutenant on sight, but it seemed that it wasn't meant to be. If he hadn't been alone and weakened he might have jumped in to at least make sure the Shinigami got out alive and indebt them to him, but as it was, there was too much of a risk he'd die as well. And he wasn't willing to risk that. His family was waiting for him. He couldn't die yet.

Sasuke sighed, preparing to make himself scarce.

Suddenly, a black blur darted across the impromptu battlefield, startlingly reminiscent of a Jounin adept at shunshin techniques, and Sasuke blinked, surprised. Mentally, he swore a blue streak, because he now had undeniable proof that his chakra sensing was indeed messed up. From what he could see he should have been able to sense whoever it was _before_ the new Shinigami had arrived. Damn.

Well, that changed things a little. If something happened he would have to improvise.

The cries of "Lieutenant!" and "Kuchiki-fukutaichou!" clued him in on the identity of the one who had just entered the fray. Sasuke sat up to attention, clamping down on his chakra to hide it as much as he was able to. It was shoddy at best, much to his ire.

For a moment, the Lieutenant paused to give some orders before he blurred out of sight again, but it was enough for Sasuke to get a good look at the man's appearance.

The Shinigami Lieutenant turned out to be a man that looked about Sasuke's age. He was slender, with straight black hair, pale skin, and an aristocratic face. Behind his left ear he wore a silver, tubular piece of jewelry in his hair. Sasuke wondered if it was a sign of his rank or just a personal accessory. The Shinigami Lieutenant was wearing the same black outfit as the other Shinigami, with the addition of a wooden badge decorated with a black emblem that might be a stylized flower, and a symbol that might be a kanji. The badge was secured to his upper left arm with a white strip of cloth.

It was obvious why the man was a Lieutenant. The man certainly was a highly skilled fighter, moving with a level of grace only the best could make look so effortless. He reminded Sasuke a lot of the samurai of the Land of Iron. The really good ones, unlike the other Shinigami. Fast as a Jounin, with a clear no-nonsense bearing, and, if what Sasuke had overheard about the Shinigami Lieutenant was accurate, upholding a level of noble dignity that would be a serious liability for anyone less capable. The man looked a bit too pale to be healthy, but that meant nothing. Itachi had been ill enough to cough up blood and he'd _still_ been able to kick Sasuke's ass without any serious effort.

Granted, Sasuke had been sixteen back then, and blinded by hatred to boot, but still. The only reason why Sasuke had been the one to walk out of that fight was that Itachi had planned it that way. His brother had been insanely powerful and Sasuke wouldn't have stood a chance had Itachi fought seriously.

Sasuke hoped Itachi was still that powerful. Now that they were no longer mortal enemies he really hoped Itachi would be willing to teach him.

But those were musings for another time, Sasuke decided firmly, forcing his attention back on the situation at hand. Because right now, Sasuke knew for sure he shouldn't underestimate the Lieutenant, whether he was ill or not. Obviously, whatever ailed the man didn't hinder him, and seeing the man in action made clear that should Sasuke try to fight him with the way his chakra was now, he would lose. _Badly_. The way the man moved indicated that he was miles and miles above his subordinates; far more skilled than Sasuke had expected when he'd observed the Shinigami he had followed. Sasuke only hoped the difference wouldn't be _too_ big. He would be in a lot of trouble otherwise.

Unfortunately, the man turned out to be perceptive too, and capable of sensing people pretty damn accurately, because once the battle was over, the man's eyes zeroed in on Sasuke's location like the nose of a ninken.

Sasuke tensed, aborting his reflex to suppress his chakra completely. He wouldn't succeed anyway, and trying would only give the man a clue about Sasuke's own abilities. Quickly, the Uchiha let himself drop out of the tree and let his blade fall into one of the dense bushes at the base. The Shinigami Lieutenant had him outmatched and outnumbered, so should the man decide to come his way and investigate, letting the Shinigami catch sight of his improvised shikomizue would only decrease his chances at a peaceful confrontation.

Not wanting to be too far from his sword should the situation go belly-up, Sasuke choose to hide himself as well. Given the Shinigami Lieutenant's speed, running wouldn't do him any good anyway.

His best bet right now would be to pretend to be an ordinary civilian vagrant who had heard the sounds of battle and had gotten curious. Trying to hide once spotted should be a normal reaction for a civilian.

He was just in time. Seconds after the branches of his hiding place had stopped rustling, the Shinigami Lieutenant's chakra signature appeared a mere five meters away. Gods, the man was _fast,_ even through dense shrubbery. Sasuke was glad he'd decided against running. He wouldn't have gotten far.

The Shinigami Lieutenant was soon joined by three of his subordinates. Sasuke assumed the rest had orders to stay behind or something.

And yeah, the man was _good_ , Sasuke acknowledged with grudging respect when the Lieutenant turned to him without the slightest hesitation.

"I know you are there. Please reveal yourself. Do not fear, we will not hurt you," a calm, authoritative voice called. Sasuke assumed it belonged to the man he was quickly coming to respect as a very dangerous individual. He couldn't really see, what with his hiding place blocking most of his field of vision.

Sasuke waited for a moment to feign hesitation, before he slowly crawled out of his hiding place, not bothering to hide the sounds of his movements. Why would he, when they already knew he was there?

As he rose to face the Shinigami Lieutenant and his people, Sasuke remembered just in time that he could not let them see his eyes. The red would put even powerful shinobi on edge. Shinigami? He wasn't going to bet on them being more composed. And them getting their guard up any further would be counterproductive. Quickly he let his eyes fall shut, leaving them only the tiniest bit open so he could still peer through his lashes and watch the Shinigami. It wasn't as if he really _needed_ his sight right now. One of ANBU's requirements was that you had to be able to fight blind. Since his enemies always tried to take out his eyes, Sasuke had learned to be very good at it. Good enough to manage even without reliable chakra-sensing, as long as he wouldn't have to fight.

As a finishing touch Sasuke made sure to stand just a bit off balance. If the Lieutenant was any good then he would spot the signs of Sasuke's own training immediately, but with a bit of luck a few small flaws would conceal the full extent of it.

Dusting the leaves and dirt off his clothes, Sasuke quickly appraised the Shinigami the Lieutenant had brought with him. Hm, not the ones he had tailed before, except for one. That Manbou guy. From the way the unknown Shinigami held themselves, Sasuke judged they were fairly skilled but far below the level of their leader. Chuunin, maybe. And from the way they eyed him, Sasuke deduced that they didn't think much of him now he stood before them.

"Man, this is what had you keyed up, Kuchiki-fukutaichou-sama?" one of the Shinigami Sasuke didn't know remarked derisively once he'd taken in Sasuke's appearance. "It's just an ordinary Rukongai tramp!"

Sasuke would have liked to punch the rude moron on the nose, but that wouldn't go over well. Instead he kept his eyes trained on the Lieutenant, who was watching him with equally assessing eyes.

"Not ordinary," the man murmured to his subordinate, before addressing Sasuke with a polite nod. "Greetings, stranger. My name is Kuchiki Soujun, Lieutenant of the Sixth Division of the Gotei Thirteen. These are my men, Manbou Asakuchi, Rirujika Takeya, and Taro Mitaku." Kuchiki Soujun gestured at his subordinates as he introduced them, which was pretty convenient.

Sasuke paused, weighing his options. The Lieutenant was a lot less guarded than he'd expected, and what he had said had contained an intriguing amount of info. Clearly the man hadn't recognized him as a shinobi. Or at least, Sasuke amended, a _hostile_ shinobi. That was good, but it changed things a little. Quickly Sasuke reevaluated his strategy and decided on a course of action. The man sounded as if he was used to people knowing his name. In that case, Sasuke prior decision not to give his real name was cemented. Who knew who else would learn it?

"My name is Shinrin," Sasuke replied, deliberately not stating a second name as he dipped into a shallow bow, fully knowing that his bow should have been deeper if he had intended to show proper respect to one of high rank. He made sure to behave just inches shy of rude to give the impression of someone who had never met one of the upper classes before, but who tried to be polite nonetheless. No need to seem anything more than what he looked like: a dirt-poor, unsophisticated vagrant of a derelict district. Unsophisticated vagrants rarely knew enough about upper class sensibilities to avoid insult, which was a good cover to test someone's character without actually seeming to do so.

He just hoped that afterlife etiquette was pretty similar to living-world etiquette. It would be bad if he ended up making a different impression than he intended.

As for the name, Sasuke had first planned to give an different name, but Shinrin was a common name among Konoha shinobi to give on the fly. If they recognized it they would know his affiliation, but in return it would tell Sasuke whether or not the Shinigami were familiar with Konoha. If they didn't they would think nothing of it.

"A pleasure meeting you," the Shinigami Lieutenant said, giving no sign that he was offended or had recognized the significance of Sasuke's chosen name. The other Shinigami didn't seem to recognize it either, though one of them growled in reaction to Sasuke's rudeness. Oh, how amusing. Growling at someone who seemed to be completely oblivious to the perceived slight was just asking for a fight. The man was lucky his superior was smarter than that.

But the fact that they didn't recognize the name was reason for concern. Especially the Lieutenant, who looked powerful and intelligent enough to be aware of at least the most common codes of the Hidden Villages. Surely the Konoha shinobi who had perished before him would have rebuild the village here? Maybe they changed some details?

Sasuke scratched the back of his head, faking uneasy self-consciousness. "Yeah, me too... How did you know I was here?" Sasuke asked, testing the waters as he cast his first line of inquiry. He was already pretty sure he knew the answer, but he was curious to see whether the man would tell him the truth.

"Your reiatsu is remarkable. You are good at hiding, but I could sense it," the Lieutenant said kindly, a glint of amusement in his bluish-purple eyes.

Huh. Odd color, Sasuke thought. Though he supposed he wasn't one to talk with the way his eyes were now. And the Shinigami was at least willing to be a little honest, or else he didn't deem the information important enough to protect. Assuming that reiatsu was the same as chakra.

The Shinigami Lieutenant tilted his head a little. "With that much reiryoku you need to eat every day, is it not?" he said conversationally, interrupting Sasuke's train of speculation.

Sasuke stared at the man from between his lashes, caught off guard by the odd non-sequitur. As far as fishing for information went, this question wasn't exactly subtle. Though why on earth the Lieutenant would ask such a thing... Trying to catch him off balance? But why such a weird question? Who _didn't_ need to eat every day? Granted, Sasuke, like most other skilled shinobi, could last a few days without food if it was necessary, but that didn't mean it was a good idea to do so.

Sasuke frowned. Then again, the man lived here, and this _was_ the afterlife. Who knew how odd a dead person's metabolism was? Or a Shinigami's, for that matter? Who knew what he didn't know about himself?

"Are you telling me you don't?" Sasuke inquired warily, taking note of a slight restlessness in the other Shinigami. It didn't seem to be caused by the almost rude way he asked his questions, which was both interesting and worrying. Clearly, he was missing something.

Kuchiki Soujun smiled as if Sasuke had said something amusing. Sasuke was getting a bad feeling. "Oh, I do," he assured. "But most souls in the Rukongai don't. If they don't have reiryoku they don't need sustenance at all. Only those with power feel hunger here."

 _Say what?_ Sasuke forgot to hide his surprise. That was... well, _bizarre_ was one word for it. "And how often is usual?" he asked, warily. Because while he was perfectly capable of suppressing his own hunger, he certainly knew when he was feeling it. And so far, he'd felt it at least three times a day, and that was even when he snacked a little between the meals. What did that say about him, if there were a lot of people who required _nothing?_

The man tilted his head, a knowing look in his eyes. Clearly he had read between the lines and had drawn his own conclusions about Sasuke's food intake. "Most of the souls with power only have a little, and require a light meal once every two to four days. Those with above-average power often require a piece of fruit or a small bun every day. But from your reaction I get the feeling you need more than that."

Wait, what? _One_ meal every few days? And a _light_ one at that? Had he been less in control of himself, Sasuke's jaw would have dropped. As it was, he barely managed to abort the knee-jerk reaction to widen his eyes in surprise. The Lieutenant probably caught a glimpse of his true eye color, though it was difficult to tell whether the man had realized it wasn't just an odd shade of brown.

The man's eyes were kind. "How often _do_ you need, I wonder?" he said mildly, as if musing to himself. "A meal once a day? A meal _twice_ a day? Though given what I can sense from you, twice might be excess."

For a moment, Sasuke debated the merits of revealing his true requirements. On one hand it would give the man a more accurate estimate of Sasuke's reserves, but on the other hand, he seemed very knowledgeable _and_ willing to share that knowledge. Not a common combination. And since there were clearly more differences between the living world and the world of the dead that Sasuke had been able to detect yet, Sasuke needed information. As it was, this guy seemed to be his best chance to get the more vital tidbits. Who knew what else he didn't know about living the afterlife?

Good thing he had made sure to keep a few cards up his sleeve then. People with power were only dangerous when they knew how to use it. So far, he was pretty sure the Shinigami Lieutenant was a pro at it. Though he should brush up his assessing abilities. From the way Kuchiki Soujun talked to him, he didn't expect much from Sasuke despite knowing that Sasuke's level of power was above average.

Which was just the way the Uchiha liked it.

Sasuke pretended to cave beneath the inquiries, letting a hint of uncertain apprehension slip into his stance. "Three small meals a day," Sasuke stated, as if unsure why he would need to eat more than someone else. And had to keep himself from smirking when through the entire group jaws dropped and eyes bulged. He hadn't even mentioned the snacks, and already the Shinigami looked like fish. Not a flattering appearance.

Gods, Naruto was a terrible influence on his sense of humor.

The Lieutenant had better control over his reactions. He was clearly taken aback, but at least he didn't make a fool of himself. He needed a second to compose himself, but his genial face was soon plastered back on, though he still looked a bit nonplussed beneath his gentle mask. Hmm, not just _like_ the samurai of the Land of Iron then. This guy could have been one of their Captains.

Sasuke decided he liked him. He also decided he was not going to trust the Lieutenant with any information about his past anytime soon. Anyone who was comparable to those of the Land of Iron was too dangerous for that.

"How odd, I only sense-" Kuchiki Soujun murmured, confused, before his eyes widened in realization and he cut himself off. His calm masked cracked a little, astounded disbelief leaking through. "Are you _hiding_ your reiatsu?"

Sasuke raised a mental eyebrow. He was keeping his chakra signature at a low key – or was _attempting_ to – but from Kuchiki's words it sounded like chakra and reiatsu were the same. On the same note, Sasuke assumed that reiatsu and reiryoku were related. Outwardly, he shrugged. "Don't know. Depends on what you mean by reiatsu."

Kuchiki stared for a moment. Then he shook his head, muttering something that sounded like, "Father is never going to believe this."

Sasuke briefly wondered who this 'father' was. From the way the Lieutenant held himself he wouldn't be surprised if his parent was an important noble. Something to keep an eye on.

Collecting himself and straightening, Kuchiki gestured invitingly at the clearing where his men had been fighting. "I think we should sit down for this. It may take me a while to explain."

Sasuke hesitated for a moment. He didn't want to leave his sword behind, but... Damn, he accidentally dropped a kunai in his foot, now didn't he? Say yes and he'd have to leave his blade. Say no and the Shinigami Lieutenant would wonder why.

He sighed internally. Well, better to keep the Shinigami Lieutenant ignorant and wring some more info out of him. He could always come back for his weapon later.

Decision made, Sasuke gestured as politely as he could _you first._ The man smiled genially and complied.

One of the men, Taro Mitaku, if Sasuke remembered right, opened his mouth to protest, but a small gesture from his Lieutenant cut him off. Sasuke politely refrained from smirking.

His not-a-smirk changed into a look of confusion when the Lieutenant offered him a hand. "We will reach the others far easier if you allow me to carry you," Kuchiki explained. "Walking the normal way will take quite long."

For a moment Sasuke was sorely tempted to show the Lieutenant exactly what a Konoha shinobi was capable of in terrain like this, but swiftly kicked that desire in the back of the knees and hogtied it. While he probably wouldn't be able to pull off the normal civilian routine in front of someone like Kuchiki Soujun, there was absolutely no need to show off. Plus he was curious how the Lieutenant intended to reach the clearing if they weren't going to 'walk the normal way'.

"Alright," Sasuke agreed, keeping a sharp eye on the Lieutenant when the man slung Sasuke's arm over his shoulder and wrapped his own arm around Sasuke's waist.

 _If he tries something,_ Sasuke thought grimly, as he opened his eyes a smidgen to observe the other man's actions, _I'll at least be in the right position to kill him for it._

Then he sucked in a startled breath as the world blurred and he was smoothly pulled along at incredible speed.

 _Not quite shunshin,_ Sasuke realized, feeling a sharp flash of envy. _But close enough._

At least he had now seen the technique in action. He would figure out how to use it himself soon enough. His own attempts at shunshin had been pathetic at best, and he had stopped experimenting when he was tailing the Shinigami so he wouldn't alert them by crashing into things or tripping. Those were some of the most embarrassing ways to be discovered he could think of.

Coming to a standstill was smooth too, the Lieutenant's movements lacking the jerkiness of the other Shinigami's movements. One jump was all Kuchiki had needed to clear the distance, unlike his subordinates, who needed two or more. As if Sasuke needed any more proof that Kuchiki was on a whole different level.

Slipping out of the Shinigami's hold, Sasuke observed the rest of the Lieutenants group. The Shinigami were staring at him with various amalgams of curiosity and wariness. A few of them seemed displeased to see their Lieutenant carrying someone. Apparently it was regarded as beneath his station or something. Sasuke ignored their displeasure. It had been Kuchiki's own decision after all.

"Please follow me, Shinrin-san," Kuchiki requested, appearing not in the least bit fazed by his subordinates' none too subtle frowns as he guided Sasuke to a patch of grass a little away from where the battle had been. The three that had accompanied the Lieutenant settled down as well.

"Well then," the Lieutenant began conversationally, sitting in flawless seiza. "I could simply start explaining, but perhaps you prefer to have some questions answered first."

Sasuke nodded, choosing a seemingly sloppier version of the formal position which allowed him to defend himself as easily as if he had been standing. He casually ignored the lower ranking Shinigami's sneers. He was pleasantly surprised when Kuchiki did the same, and even directed a mildly admonishing look at the worst of them.

"What did you mean with 'reiatsu'? And just out of curiosity, do you always start talking about dietary habits when you meet someone?" Sasuke inquired, honestly interested in the answer. It was a bit ruder than he would like, but it _was_ a very fitting thing to ask given how Kuchiki had introduced that topic.

Kuchiki chuckled. "Not usually, but it is a good way to get an idea of someone's reserves, so given the chance we do try to bring it up at one point or another," the man explained. "And I will admit that I was curious what your reaction would be. It is not often that I find someone with the nerves to observe one of our battles from such a meagre distance. Most Rukongai citizens would run away as fast as they could. And I was not sure I would get a chance to ask at a later moment, since I couldn't help but notice you were ready to either attack or flee." Kuchiki tilted his head, thoughtfully regarding Sasuke. "Which I found a little odd, since you didn't seem afraid of us. At least it was quite effective in capturing your attention."

Huh. That was pretty clever, Sasuke admitted. An unusual approach, but clever. And now the Lieutenant mentioned it, Sasuke realized the odd remark had made him involuntarily lower his guard as well. He almost smiled. How much like a shinobi. It was certainly a tactic Naruto would have appreciated.

"As for reiatsu," Kuchiki continued when Sasuke refrained from commenting, "it is the pressure exerted by one's reiryoku. Reiryoku is the power one's soul possesses. Everyone has some amount of reiryoku, and the amount reflects the strength of one's soul. Reiryoku is emitted in the form of reiatsu, which can be sensed. Those with great skill at manipulating their reiryoku can learn to reduce the emission of reiatsu, or use seals or items to reduce it for them. I have never heard of someone being capable of suppressing their reiatsu without being a Shinigami, yet you seem to be doing it to a minor degree. That is very impressive," the Lieutenant told him earnestly.

Sasuke mentally nodded to himself. Yes, that did sound a lot like chakra, only without the division between physical energy and spiritual energy. "Am I right to assume that the need to eat comes from the fact that I leak reiryoku all over the place?"

The Lieutenant looked amused by his choice of words. "That would be a fair assumption, yes. Once you have gained some control that will decrease, though you would still need food to replenish the reiryoku you expend during activities."

Sasuke nodded. "I see. So what is the normal food-intake for a Shinigami?"

Kuchiki looked thoughtful. "I believe that would be three meals and a similar number of snacks a day for an average Shinigami." A sunny smile. "Which would make you one of the most powerful untrained souls we have ever come across."

Sasuke felt like facepalming. Of. Course. Shinobi training coming to bite him in the ass, Kami, the world had a _terrible_ sense of humor. Outwardly he only grimaced and said, "I see."

The Lieutenant nodded, visibly nonplussed by his lack of reaction. "I am glad you do. Most souls have difficulty accepting this." The man gave him an appraising look. "Which makes me wonder how experienced a soul you are... How long have you been here? Usually people are far less composed."

Sasuke shrugged. "Not that long," he replied, deliberately vague. "I have to say, I didn't expect the differences between life and death to be this subtle."

The man stilled. "You remember your life?"

Sasuke paused. Sighed, annoyed and resigned. "I take that isn't normal?"

The man shook his head. "No... Souls are supposed to forget their human life. Though it happens sometimes that someone remembers a few things." He paused, thoughtful. "How much do you think you remember?"

Sasuke frowned mentally, a dark suspicion settling heavy in his gut. He considered how much he should reveal. He shrugged. "Enough to remember some of my military training," he lied. Better to have something to point at should Kuchiki figure out he was more capable than he pretended to be. "So how unusual is that?"

The man sighed. "Very. Most do not recall more than the very basics, like how currency works or how to prepare food. Sometimes a vague recollection of what had been the most important to them in life. The fact that you recall something as specific as receiving military training is exceptional."

Sasuke stilled. Then, after several long seconds, he slowly let the air in his lungs escape. He bowed his head, eyes stinging.

Well... that sucked. So even if he found his family, or anyone from Konoha, there was a good chance they wouldn't remember him? Even _Itachi?_ He could barely believe it. That- That was...

Sasuke cut of that line of thought and forcefully yanked himself out of his funk. No. He wasn't going to dwell on it, not when he was in the middle of a conversation with someone as skilled as Kuchiki. If his family and his comrades really didn't remember... then he would just have to get used to it. He had thought he had lost most of them for forever before, so it was not as if it would make that much of a difference.

He adamantly refused to acknowledge how much getting his hopes crushed hurt.

"Do people remember their names?" he asked. Probably too brusquely, but he could always apologize later.

The Lieutenant seemed to sense his pain and gave him a sad look. "Few do," he replied. "Very, very few."

Sasuke took a deep breath and ran a hand over his face. And if his breath shuddered a little and his eyes were probably a bit more moist than they should be, well, it was a good thing the Shinigami couldn't see it.

Luckily for Sasuke, Kuchiki was perspective enough to drop the subject of memories. "So how old are you?" he inquired instead. "Not everyone retains the appearance they had at the end of their lives, so it can be a bit hard to tell at times."

Sasuke took a deep breath, shoving grief aside and locking it away in a big black pitch along with all the other negative emotions he had accumulated over the years. Compartmentalizing wasn't the most healthy thing to do with your emotions, but it had gotten him through more sticky situations than he cared to count. Better to concentrate on himself than on people who might no longer know him.

"I look a bit younger than I used to," he assented, remembering seeing a face he hadn't seen for at least five years in the mirror after he had gone to check his eyes. "But I'm twenty-three years old."

One of the men, Taro – the same moron from before – snorted. "Man, your training must've sucked if you died that young."

Sasuke glanced at him and gave him an icy look. The one he had used to terrify annoying subordinates with. "You're a fool," he told the moron coldly, not in the mood to deal with the idiot. "If you had any common sense at all, then you would know that age is a very unreliable indicator for ability. My death was caused by lack of fortune, not by lack of skill."

And yeah, maybe he wanted to keep a low profile. But that didn't mean he would just let such an insult go. That would be disrespectful to everyone who had ever put their trust in his skill.

"So you have some military training, on top of being a very powerful soul," Kuchiki interrupted thoughtfully, ignoring his spluttering subordinate. The Lieutenant smiled in a way that was a bit too pleased. "Say, do you want to be a Shinigami?"

Sasuke frowned, instantly suspicious. "What, you'd offer me a place just like that?"

The man chuckled. "Not exactly. You will first have to graduate from the Academy before you can become one of my Shinigami. But I cannot deny that you have a lot of potential, so once you have graduated I would not mind if you joined my Division."

Ah, so the Lieutenant was just looking for recruits. Sasuke could understand Kuchiki's actions now. He himself would be willing to invest some time into coaxing someone with a lot of potential into becoming one of his subordinates.

"And it cannot be denied that with your reiryoku levels you need training, or else your reiatsu will act out and become a danger to those around you," the man continued, tapping his chin thoughtfully.

Sasuke became a lot more interested at the word 'training'. Regaining his old techniques would go so much faster if he could skip the whole 'trial and error' phase. "And who would train me?"

"The instructors of the Academy, at least for the years you remain at the Academy. Once you join a Division you will be trained by your seniors."

Sasuke mentally frowned. The more prideful part of him balked at the idea of going through an Academy again at his age and skill level, but the more practical part of him quickly whacked the prideful part over the head, reminding it of the fact that at an Academy you didn't just learn fighting. You learned history, laws, behavioral codes, and, most important, jutsu. His control over his spiritual energy was still shoddy, and he barely could perform any jutsu with it.

So yeah, he admitted the Academy would probably be useful. His seniors on the other hand…

Sasuke cast one look at the Shinigami who would be his seniors, and carefully kept the sneer that wanted to form from his face. With the exception of the Lieutenant, there was very little these people would be able to teach him once he had gotten his chakra control back.

Maybe Kuchiki was able to detect some of his thoughts, because the man looked increasingly amused. "Of course you will also be granted free access to our library," he added, watching carefully to see how Sasuke would react to the additional bait, clearly having cottoned on to the fact that Sasuke was interested in improving himself.

Sasuke eyed him skeptically, ruefully amused by the eagerness he detected in the Lieutenant's countenance. Looked like the man _really_ wanted to recruit him.

 _Well, it's not as if the offer isn't tempting. And if anyone has retained some of their memories, they too will investigate the Shinigami at one point or another._ Not to mention that if there really was no one who remembered, then joining the Shinigami might just be a good place to start anew.

 _It's not as if I won't find a way to leave if I don't like it,_ he reassured himself. _I was the ANBU's second Commander. Once I have my control back, they won't be able to stop me._

He nodded to himself and returned his attention to Kuchiki. For the first time that day, he returned the Lieutenant's smile. "Fine, fine. I'll go to that Academy of yours."

* * *

 **And there you go! To be honest, I'm not entirely happy with this chapter. Some of it just feels clumsy. However, I don't think I can improve that unless I rewrite the entire thing, and I really want to move on with the story. So forgive me if things feel a little odd here and there.**

 **For those that are interested: 'shinrin' means 'forest/woods'; I assume I don't have to explain why this has a connection to Konoha.**

 **Please let me know what you thought! Constructive criticism is welcome!**


	3. Chapter 3

**Okay, this is a stupidly long chapter and I'm still debating whether or not I should try to shorten it somehow. But for now, you guys get the long version.**

 **Have fun!**

* * *

When Soujun had first sensed an unfamiliar reiatsu near his subordinates he had been wary. While he had been able to tell it had not belonged to a Hollow, it had been too strong for an ordinary Rukongai citizen. Not to mention that the closest villages were almost a full day of traveling from there, assuming you travelled at a slow shunpo. Ever since the sudden entrance of a group of mad individuals into the Rukongai he had not been inclined to think kindly of such an oddity.

He was not hesitant to admit that what he had found had not been what he had expected.

Shinrin was unbelievable. Soujun had never found someone with so much potential in the Rukongai who wasn't also an insane maniac. Soujun was convinced the young man even had his Zanpakutou already! When Shinrin had insisted on returning to the place they had found him Soujun had _not_ expected him to fish what looked like a walking stick out of the bushes. And then he had spotted a shape beneath the cloth at the top that was suspiciously similar to a tsuba. And noticed the odd rope wrappings at various points along the stick's length, as if it consisted of two halves held together instead of one solid piece of wood. Soujun had the sneaking suspicion that he had embarrassed himself there, going slack-jawed in surprise.

It was almost unheard of, but Soujun was aware that it was possible for a soul to manifest his Zanpakutou without the aid of an asauchi. It required enormous strength and tremendous reiryoku reserves, but it _was_ possible. After all, that was how the Captain-commander and the original Captains had gained their Zanpakutou, long before the first asauchi had been created. It was just that only about one among a hundred souls possessed the potential, and most of _those_ would require a lot of time to achieve a natural manifestation. Using asauchi was simply the easier way. Yet here was Shinrin, who had gained his Zanpakutou so swiftly and probably was not even aware how amazing his accomplishment was.

It was just too amusing, in a ridiculous, mildly exasperating way. Who had ever heard of someone hiding a _piece of their own soul_ like that? He was convinced Shinrin wasn't aware of the significance of his blade.

Especially because during the last stop at a village a few hours ago, Soujun dared bet he had seen Shinrin swipe some knifes. Usually, those with Zanpakutou didn't bother with other weapons.

Soujun had kept quiet though. He would speak with Shinrin about it soon enough, but if there was one thing Ukitake-taichou had taught him about those of the most distant districts, it was that any uninvited breach of their privacy would be received very badly, if not outright violently. The mere fact that Shinrin had made a lot of effort to hide his weapons was sign enough that he did not want people to pay attention to it.

Though Soujun suspected that no matter how gently or privately he brought up the issue Shinrin still wouldn't be happy with him. Whether Shinrin would continue to display his practiced calm or would unleash the temper Soujun had glimpsed when Taro had insulted Shinrin's skills during his life was anyone's guess.

Soujun didn't mind. While Shinrin moved with a speed and grace he could only feel deep appreciation for, he was well aware that nowadays, few Humans bothered to learn the sword, let alone master it. And if he used his shunpo, the young man would not be able to keep up no matter how skilled he was. Soujun had given Shinrin a quick rundown of the theory behind shunpo, but it would take Shinrin some time to master it even if he turned out to be a genius at the art. Whatever Shinrin remembered, Soujun was confident he could handle the young man should he turn out as unstable as so many of the other curiously talented souls that had turned up over the last decade.

Not to mention that Shinrin was a joy to observe, keeping up with their slow shunpo without using any reiryoku. For an average Rukongai citizen to keep up it would have required an all-out sprint, and they would have start lagging behind before five minutes had passed. But this was their third day traveling with the young man, and Shinrin _still_ wasn't showing any signs of slowing down, even after many hours of running. The young man had to have immense stamina to maintain such a remarkable speed on muscle alone. Shinrin didn't even use his arms to help himself accelerate, instead stretching them out behind him to keep them out of the way and aid his balance, his disguised sword held in one hand. Soujun would be very surprised if Shinrin wasn't ready to draw at the barest hint of danger.

And the young man seemed to think nothing of it. Really, what kind of military training had he received, to be so used to a pace like this?

Though Soujun had to wonder what Shinrin was doing with his reiatsu. It was flickering like a candle flame in a draught, and had done so for the entire time Soujun had known him. He would have to ask about it sometime soon.

Soujun was eager to see what kind of Shinigami the young man would make. Shinrin's potential was astounding. He would not be surprised if one day he would call the youth an equal, if not a superior. Shinrin had an air about him that made Soujun suspect Shinrin's memories of his military training were far more extensive than he had implicated, which was another anomaly for the young man's record.

The minor injuries on Shinrin's hands were similarly intriguing. They had already been there when they had met the young man, and they _looked_ like kidou burns. But there was no way Shinrin could know kidou. Not only did the outer districts lack the means for any soul to learn kidou, the young man had said he hadn't been in Soul Society long. Soujun didn't think Shinrin had lied, so there was no plausible way the injuries were caused by kidou. Not to mention that the injuries were too mild to be caused by a complete beginner having his first spell backfire.

Shinrin was a mystery. One that Soujun looked forward to unravelling.

He did not doubt that his comrades in Seireitei would feel the same should Shinrin be brought to their attention. For a moment Soujun contemplated keeping things quiet to spare Shinrin the attention of most of the upper echelons of the Gotei 13. But no, he knew his comrades. Shihouin-taichou, Ukitake-taichou, Kyouraku-taichou, and his father would notice his interest soon enough, and would only be more curious about the soon-to-be Academy student. Better to tell them right away and warn them not to be too obvious with their curiosity. Given how wary the young man was, Soujun had the feeling Shinrin would not appreciate it.

The Kuchiki was pulled out of his musings as something crashed in the distance, followed by wild laughter. Soujun frowned darkly, recognizing the savage joy and the wildness of the reiatsu that for a single moment blazed like a beacon. Good grief, he had thought the last of those mad monsters had finally been dealt with last year! He had hoped that the rumours of one of them slipping away had been false.

He sighed soundlessly and readied himself for a difficult battle. It seemed father had made the right call to send him along with this expedition.

"Kuchiki-fukutaichou?" Shinrin inquired warily, obviously having heard the laughter too.

 _Ah. The famed Rukongai self-preservation instincts._ The young man did not show it, but Soujun was willing to bet that Shinrin would bolt without hesitation or regret if the situation became too dangerous.

Which, the Lieutenant forced himself to admit, might be a sensible idea. Chances were that this battle would demand his full concentration. He couldn't let himself be distracted with the constant protection of his companions.

Decision made, he called his team to a halt. "Stay here," he ordered everyone. "We have an unusual foe up ahead. This will be dangerous, so I will handle this."

An agonized scream echoed from the same direction of the laughter. Soujun felt a wave of worry. "And I am afraid the rest of our team is already engaging the assailant."

He was not looking forward to this. He would have to kill whoever had harmed his men, and he had never enjoyed doing that, no matter how necessary it was.

Just as he turned away he caught glimpse of Shinrin's expression. It was subtle, but why did he appear irritated, of all things?

"This one will likely be a very skilled opponent," he repeated, partly for the young man's sake. "At least Lieutenant level, so stay out of the battle. Do not interfere."

"Oh?" a feminine voice purred above him. "Will you face me then? _Alone?_ How kind of you, Fukutaichou."

Soujun's eyes snapped up, his hands drawing and raising his Zanpakutou in a guard before he even realized it. He had rarely been so glad to have his reflexes as he was now. Because this was definitely one of the mad geniuses that had terrorized the Rukongai for the last couple of years.

High on a bough above them stood a short, slender woman clad in a dark-green, bloodstained hakama and kosode. Her hair was red as the stains on her clothes and styled in such a way it made her look like a wild fox-youkai in human form. She had a katana in her hand and was wearing a feral grin that bared very distinctive triangular teeth.

 _By the Soul King, she is one of that ferocious group that was the worst of them all._

Soujun's worry increased. How had she snuck up on them? One who had never attended the Academy should not be able to suppress her reiatsu so well. These people got more dangerous with every passing year. And this one had been running out of control for at least five.

 _This will be difficult._

"My, look at that," the woman said, assessing eyes gliding over their group. "Here I am, checking on some rumours, and suddenly I have so many prey to play with."

"What kind of rumours?" Soujun inquired, not allowing his blade to lower even a fraction. Some of this woman's kind had been very fast.

The woman smiled sweetly at the group. "Hmm, about a young, black-haired man who offers his services to slay the masked beasts, and who asks curious questions. Supposedly a new arrival too. So I just had to come and check it out, ne? Who knew how much fun he might be? And see how lucky I am," she gloated, as if facing off against a squad of Shinigami headed by a Lieutenant was a treat instead of a lethal pastime. Behind him he heard his squad bristle in offense. "I find a couple of Shinigami! And a strong one willing to face me as well! How wonderful."

She smirked, sharp and fox-like, and added teasingly, "Truly, I do so love your butterflies. Flying gossip, all up for grabs. Without it I would not have found you so quickly."

Soujun carefully didn't react to her jab against their communication methods, though it was very worrying that she had apparently been able to get her hands on the jigokuchou he had sent to his father to inform him about their delay. His gaze darted towards Shinrin. Had it been Shinrin who had asked questions that had drawn this woman's attention? And what did she mean, offering his services to slay the masked beasts? Had Shinrin been killing Hollows?

There was something distinctly odd going on.

Unfortunately, he didn't have time to dwell on it, because the woman's grin had widened disturbingly. "It's you now isn't it?" she asked Shinrin, who didn't react beyond a slight tilting of his head, hand already on the hilt of his concealed sword. Shinrin always kept his eyes narrowed into thin slits, but Soujun dared bet that the young man was assessing the woman very carefully.

She laughed in delight. "Oh, _definitely_ you. Any of the _real_ Rukongai cattle would be pissing their pants by now, and you're no Shinigami either." She tapped her cheek. "You're a shinobi too, aren't you? Why are you hanging out with Shinigami instead of your own kind? Too scared to be on your lonesome?" A fanged grin followed with a good dose of cruel humour. "Know what? If your performance thrills me I'll let you come with me. Assuming you haven't died by then."

… _What did she say?_

XXX(xxxx)XXX(xxxx)XXX(xxxx)XXX

Sasuke was swore up a storm in his head, lambasting curses on the woman and the world in general for getting him in this shitty situation. He didn't like the shocked look Kuchiki had sent him upon hearing him being called a shinobi – though it did prove that Kuchiki hadn't recognized him as such, which, despite that Sasuke wanted it that way, stung a little to be honest – and he downright detested the way the woman looked at him as if he was an interesting puzzle waiting to be picked apart. He would not trust her offer for all the power and jutsu in the world.

Well, maybe he would pretend to, if the offer was enticing enough. But never for _real._

And right now was not the right moment to try to get his hands on her secrets. Not when he wasn't sure he could get away with them alive, and _definitely_ not in front of a high-ranking Shinigami officer, who might be strong enough to get away and blabber everything he knew to his comrades.

And whose startled look had just turned into wariness.

Damn. Maybe, _maybe_ , he could still talk his way out of Kuchiki's suspicions, but he would have to give up a whole lot more details about his memories and skills than he wanted. He could only hope the idiotic woman wouldn't spill any more dangerous information.

He raised his voice to address her, letting ice drip from every word. "I don't know what your damage is, but if you think I want to join you then you're even crazier than you look."

Instead of being insulted she laughed raucously, showcasing the characteristic teeth of a Kiri shinobi who had dedicated her life and soul to swordsmanship. "How harsh! But I'm glad you're not a coward like most of these quivering idiots. Such a pity you won't have much time to relearn your skills." She gave Sasuke a considering look, followed by a wild grin. "Then again, so far you seem to be my type, so who knows? Maybe you'll surprise me. Now show me how well you do without them!"

She shot forward and Sasuke barely managed to parry, the pieces of his improvised sheath landing with a clatter and a flutter of cut ropes as he strained both arms to match the strength of her double-handed strike. She had definitely increased her speed and strength with chakra. Too bad he barely had the chakra control to reinforce his own muscles like she did. Worse, he couldn't trust quite a number of his reflexes anymore. Reiryoku just didn't work the same as chakra, so trying to use it on reflex was bound to go wrong.

 _Treat her as a faster and stronger opponent. A battle where you're both injured and exhausted. Don't parry, deflect!_

Forcing his sword to a different angle, her blade slid to the side with a screech of metal, the sharp point coming a bit too close to his face for comfort as she tried to press him back.

However, instead of grinning madly, one of the woman's eyebrows rose in clear puzzlement as she looked him in the eye, and around him he could hear some of the Shinigami gasp.

The woman jumped back head tilted as she regarded him with a delighted smile.

"Oooh, maybe I'll really let you live a while longer," she breathed, excitement clear in her voice. "I'm Ringo Ameyuri of the Seven Swordsmen of Mist. Tell me your name," she demanded.

"Shinrin," Sasuke replied, cursing his luck. So his suspicions had been right. Why did he have to run into one of the Seven so soon? She had probably been here far longer _and_ seemed to be in the possession of her memories! Forget questioning how that had happened despite the fact that people weren't supposed to remember according to the Shinigami. This was _bad._ Without his chakra control he was barely even Chuunin level, despite his knowledge and experience. She had been able to take down Jounin. He doubted she had refrained from regaining that level of competency.

And yeah, theoretically a Chuunin could take down an ANBU officer if he was smart and his abilities were a good counter, but Sasuke doubted he would be so lucky. Whatever Kami governed good fortune definitely didn't like him.

Ashes, why was she even here? He hadn't drawn _that_ much attention. Kami, this was so troublesome. He was barely capable of shunshin, let alone the kind of jutsu he would need to defeat her. And he had _heard_ Omoi's recount of his battle with her. The swordsman of Kumo told it at least once every year during the visit, his team too proud of him to let anyone ever forget what he had done.

Maybe Kuchiki would kill her? That would be nice.

"Shinrin? Konoha?" She gave him a speculative smirk. "Any relation to the Uchiha, perhaps? Your eyes don't match theirs exactly but you definitely got their colours."

Sasuke blinked and then huffed. Ah, so that was why everyone was acting surprised. That might become problematic. He hadn't intended for the Shinigami to see his real eye colour. Or his katana, for that matter. Ah, well. No helping it now. "Tell me something I don't know already."

She smirked, eyes gliding over their audience. Kuchiki was ordering his people to retreat while the Lieutenant himself was stepping closer, sword held ready and a grimly determined look in his eyes. "Hm, maybe if you survive. But first –" she raised her katana high, both hands on the hilt as if preparing for an overhead slash, "– tear and shred, Reikouyayuu!"

Sasuke's eyes widened as her katana _warped,_ splitting into two odd slender rods of which each end split into three prongs. Thin wires connected to the base of the weapons wound up her arms and disappeared into her sleeves.

Sasuke stared in dismay. That… looked uncomfortably like a cross between the Omoi's prized thunder swords and lightning rods. Combine that with the name 'Wild Animal of Cold Light'? Yeah. Ominous.

She stabbed the weird weapons into the ground. Having heard of her favourite jutsu with Kiba, Sasuke immediately took the precautionary approach and was in the air when the first spark of red lightning hit the ground and split it like clay under a hot summer sun, scorching grass and trees as it passed through.

 _Electricity travels fast. I hope I jumped high enough to avoid it!_

The Shinigami, unfortunately, had not had a couple of Kumo nin talk their ears off. They screamed as the crimson lightning travelled up through their feet and tore through their nervous system like wildfire. Kuchiki only groaned, but that might be because he was hit the worst. Standing so close did him no favours when the destructive power of lightning died the further it got from the source.

Ringo grinned as Sasuke landed, viciously satisfied. "Well, you just spared me a difficult choice there. A Shinigami Lieutenant or a fellow shinobi. And _you're_ the one who's still standing."

Her eyes slid towards Kuchiki, who struggling to get back on his feet after taking the brunt of her attack, wisps of smoke rising through his clothes, skin red and irritated as if sunburned. His insides were probably worse off. Still, points for persistence. The other Shinigami weren't nearly as resilient and were still laying motionless on the ground. Sasuke knew he had been right to respect Kuchiki. Though Sasuke was even more wary of Ringo's weapons now.

 _Not your average lightning jutsu. It was red and causes too much burn damage. Lighting with a serious heat element worked in? which means 'Cold Light' is a reference to lightning itself, not the nature of the jutsu…_

Of course. As if his short time among the dead had not brought him enough headaches already.

"I will not let you walk free."

A firm declaration, even though the voice delivering it was raspy. Good to hear Kuchiki wasn't so hurt he would stay out of this. Though Ringo had gained a serious advantage over him. Then again, that was the point of surprising someone. Too bad it had happened to Kuchiki instead of the crazy swordswoman.

Sasuke noticed that the Lieutenant's hands were shaking as he raised his katana. Nerve damage, probably. That would take a chunk of the Shinigami's strength, if only because his muscle control wouldn't be reliable. Not that Kuchiki seemed to care about that.

Kami, this sucked.

Ringo seemed to like it though. She was definitely approving of Kuchiki's attitude. Fair's fair, so did Sasuke.

"Now that's the spirit!" she cheered, her smile gaining a sharp edge. "You know, I used to save the things I like to eat for last, but my death taught me not to hold back and just enjoy myself. However, as much fun fighting you together probably is, I won't gobble up two treats at the same time. That would just be wasteful," Ringo said with a smirk. She raised her weird weapons. "Wait your turn, Shinigami."

Kuchiki was fast despite his injuries, dodging the blast of lightning Ringo threw at him. His own lighting comeback was quite unexpected, but nice to see. Sasuke moved to stab the woman in the back, but she managed to evade both their counters.

"So impatient," she scolded. "Well, if that's how you want it…."

For a second she blurred. Without his Sharingan automatically causing his eyes to follow her Sasuke had to put in some effort to keep track of her. A slash of her blades threw up a blazing wall of lighting, keeping him from interfering for a handful of crucial seconds as Ringo went after Kuchiki.

Kuchiki was putting up a good fight, despite the aftereffects of being electrocuted. His blade had shifted too, into what looked like a host of slender, green-tinged floating blades, like lethal willow leaves riding the wind to carry out his commands.

Huh. Maybe transforming your sword was a Shinigami technique?

Too bad it wasn't doing the Lieutenant much good. Under other circumstances the battle might have been pretty even, but between the Lieutenant's still shaking hands and Ringo's interesting lightning technique that charged the air around her with energy and caused it to divert Kuchiki's blades to the side like magnetic poles being repelled, Ringo succeeded into slipping past Kuchiki's wall of blades and carved three parallel gouges into his shoulder.

Kuchiki's retaliation was good though. Sasuke didn't know what that flashy jutsu had been, but it sure had drawn as much blood from Ringo as she had gotten from him.

At the same time, Sasuke wanted to curse the idiot. Sure, flying blades were handy, especially when you could make them swarm the enemy fast enough to punch through shields – which Ringo, crazy kunoichi that she was, thought was great; then again, crazy was probably a requirement for membership of the Seven – but not when you were surrounding yourself and your opponent with them to the point that _your own people couldn't help you._

Or a well-willing unallied shinobi. Which Sasuke was. If he had to choose between Ringo and Kuchiki he'd go for Kuchiki, no doubt. At least the guy didn't want to kill him for sports.

 _Ashes and fire, it's like Naruto in his honour-battle mode. One-on-one, no matter_ what _common sense says._

Then again, if you didn't think your allies were strong enough to tangle with your opponent, keeping them out would be a good idea. And Kuchiki obviously had very little faith in his people's chances in the face of one of the Seven, given his little speech before Ringo had made the point moot. Which showed that the Lieutenant knew his Shinigami quite well.

Still. Did he _have_ to lump him in with the rest? If nothing else, Sasuke had mean aim. Splitting her attention was not beyond him.

Undercover work. Sometimes the information you got from it just wasn't worth the headache it caused you.

Having no choice, Sasuke observed the battle wish sharp eyes, mentally cursing all the while.

 _Damn it, Kuchiki. With your sword like this you're a mid-range specialist, and whatever you know of taijutsu will not work as long as you don't have a way to avoid getting cut to pieces. Ringo is a mid-range fighter_ and _a close-range. She's got you at a disadvantage no matter how you turn it!_ Especially _when she can predict the movements of your blades just from looking at your hands. So quit flinging your blades around and let us_ help _!_

Obviously, Kuchiki had a pride problem. Or maybe he was just being stupidly samurai. Regardless of common sense, the Lieutenant's green blades kept surrounding him and his opponent like a whirlwind full of pissed off bees. So far he escaped any serious injuries with his shunpo, but Sasuke could see how Kuchiki's injuries slowed him down. Not much, but enough that most of the swordswoman's slashes landed. Glancing blows only, but still. There was a reason why the Death of a Thousand Papercuts actually existed as a jutsu. It was one of the characteristic jutsu of administrative nin.

Now, under other circumstances Sasuke wouldn't have had any problem with leaving Kuchiki to his own devices – who knew, maybe the man had a plan and Sasuke just didn't know enough about Shinigami to figure it out – but that was simply not possible right now.

 _She wants me. And from what Omoi and his bunch of lunatics said, she'll be able to hunt me down easily enough after she's finished dealing with Kuchiki._

Well, if Kuchiki didn't want to let him help, then Sasuke just had to figure out a way to handle things himself. Just in case Kuchiki failed to kill her.

Sasuke just hoped Kuchiki would weaken her enough that he could take her out later. Right now his odds weren't even funny.

Right. He needed a plan. He had managed to collect four knives – not even close to the quality of even beginner kunai – had no wire to connect them with and no jutsu to run down them anyway. Besides that he had only the remains of his improvised sheath still scattered on the ground, and the tools he had stolen for his katana. And the swords of the unconscious Shinigami, though it was probably better to look for the group further away. No need to give Ringo clues.

 _Ashes and death, why does this have to happen to me?_

Well, no point whining about it. He'd just have to improvise with the few materials he had at his disposal.

First, he had to create some distance. Luckily, Kuchiki was kind enough to buy him some time. Time to see whether his minor experimentation with his new chakra over the last few days had improved his control a little.

 _If nothing else, I should be able to mask my trail enough that she won't catch up to me immediately._

Taking a deep breath and praying that he had analysed the technique enough, Sasuke focused his reiryoku and flashed away in a rush of shunpo.

XXX(xxxx)XXX(xxxx)XXX(xxxx)XXX

Well, who could have predicted that that there was someone who was not a Shihouin who could move as fast as he? Soujun was dismayed to find how much he struggled against the madwoman. His Shikai had only scratched her so far, and while that were a lot of scratches, clearly they were too shallow to hinder the woman.

Then again, he hadn't expected her Shikai ability to be as devastating as it was. Lightning, expertly manipulated. He could still feel the effects simmer in his bones, painful twinges that undermined his coordination at the most inopportune moments, making him stumble over moves that should have been smooth as flowing silk.

 _How in the Worlds did Shinrin-san predict it?_

She had called him a shinobi, and claimed she was one as well. If shinobi were anything like the Onmitsukidou then the chances of this being just a series of very inconvenient coincidences were far slimmer than he liked. There was a good chance that this was a setup, and Ringo's desire to kill Shinrin was just pretence.

 _Shinrin-san didn't do anything but slow us down. No poison, no redirection. No knives in the dark. Was his sole purpose to get us to meet her?_

His lower arm burned as one of the prongs of her weapons drew a thin line of red across it when he was just a fraction too slow to escape the attack entirely, sparks dancing above the wound. Flashing three steps to the side, he managed to stab one of his blades into her thigh with a twitch of his finger. She slapped it away before he could bury it deeper.

Soujun swore that if Shinrin had sold them out to this woman he would see that Shinrin was prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law.

 _By the gates, I do not even know whether my people are still alive._ They were awfully quiet and right now he couldn't spare the concentration to determine whether their reiatsu was fading with death. He didn't want this madwoman anywhere near them, just in case they were merely unconscious. Unfortunately, Ringo had seen through his manoeuvres almost immediately, and had taken shameless advantage of it since.

 _Keeping me here, so I can never bring my full power to bear. For someone who claims to love a challenge, she sure is determined to keep me from being one to my fullest capacities._

Or maybe she just loved outmanoeuvring someone who should be an equal or stronger. Which made her words towards Shinrin quite odd. Or would, if he did not suspect that had been an act to buy her time to scope them out.

Speaking of the young man…

His opponent frowned, jumping back to create some distance as she glanced towards the forest. "Well, I'll be damned. He's better than I thought."

A quick glance to the side showed that Shinrin was nowhere to be found. And now he had a moment to pay attention, he couldn't sense the young man's reiatsu anywhere either. _So his inability to fully conceal his reiatsu was a farce too. As well concealed as those unsettling eyes of his. Father will scold me for not noticing the discrepancies sooner._

"He's a surprising young man," Soujun allowed. Especially because Shinrin should have no reason to run, with his ally right here.

Unless he thought his ally wasn't going to win the battle.

 _That would explain why she is so irked. Getting abandoned as a lost cause by an ally must sting. Not to mention, I'm not nearly so sure that I will be the victor here. Did Shinrin-san misjudge the situation?_

If he had, the young man was probably in for a world of pain. Ringo Ameyuri did not seem the forgiving type.

Oh well. Not his problem. At least, not until this woman was dealt with.

Calling on Shidareyanagi's blades once more, he directed them at the woman with a wave of his hand, keeping a small number of them back to cover his hands and arms with. Risky, given the edges they carried, but he would not be able to break through her guard if he could not protect himself from her slashes. And Shidareyanagi's blades were tough as the strongest steel. They should be able to turn her blows away.

Now he just had to time it so that he didn't touch her weapons while they were blazing with lightning.

… Oh dear.

XXX(xxxx)XXX(xxxx)XXX(xxxx)XXX

 _Right,_ Sasuke thought, brushing some hair out of his face as he checked his last trap. _This is about the best I can do right now._

He had been lucky. The Shinigami group Ringo had attacked earlier had been fairly sizable. He had thought he had sensed that, and it was gratifying to find he had accurately estimated their number. It was nice that his chakra sensing was reliable again. Reiatsu was different from the chakra signatures he was used to, which had thrown him off for a while, but now he knew the difference he could recognize both. The upsides of traveling with a group of Shinigami who didn't bother to hide their presence.

Lucky that the second group had been all dead. They wouldn't get upset about him borrowing their blades and equipment, nor would they wake up and bumble into one of his traps, ruining it.

Not that they had had much equipment, but torn clothes worked as well as ropes if you didn't mind the ropes being visible. Sasuke was of Konoha. It would be embarrassing if he didn't know how to conceal such things in a forest. Even if the forest was a lot younger than the forests around Konoha. Young trees were more flexible anyway.

 _Time to poke the tiger in the eye._

Slinking back to the impromptu battlefield, Sasuke carefully took stock of the situation.

 _Well, well, will you look at that? Kuchiki is surprisingly creative_ , Sasuke thought with a smirk. He hadn't realized the Lieutenant's green blades were flexible enough to form some kind of clawed gloves, but evidently they were. Not the safest of solutions, given the trails of blood that leaked from beneath the gloves, but the gamble had effectively put Kuchiki back in the game. With the creation of those claw-gloves he had made himself capable of fighting close-range again. Ringo was already sporting a series of deep gouges as a result. Nice.

But while Kuchiki's new strategy had improved his chances, he was still losing. Blades just weren't a good counter to lightning techniques. Not if both fighters were equally skilled. It was only a matter of time before Ringo would bring him down.

That was fine. Sasuke was perfectly capable of biding his time.

It happened in the blink of an eye. One of her lightning bolts glanced Kuchiki's side. The lightning immediately grounded in the Lieutenant, who screamed as it raged through his body. Ringo followed up by carving him open from shoulder to hip, effectively incapacitating the Shinigami. Kuchiki went down in a splatter of blood, his blades scattering before melting back into a katana.

She probably would have beheaded Kuchiki for good measure if Sasuke hadn't interfered. Ringo aborted her motion just in time to avoid getting a sword in her back, courtesy of the Uchiha having thrown it with quite a lot of force behind it. As it was, she managed to move out of the way far enough for the borrowed katana to glance off her ribs. From experience Sasuke knew it was a painful injury, but he had hoped that his first attack would have reaped a better result.

Goddamn katana. He would kill for some proper kunai right now. At least those could be thrown without making the air whistle as they flew.

Kuchiki gave him a dazed, confused stare while Ringo whirled around, anger and glee warring for dominance on her face. "You-!"

Sasuke didn't stick around, instead running at top speed towards the area he had prepared. It was a good thing Kuchiki was so good at shunpo. Having a good example to compare to had allowed Sasuke to get his competence with the technique up to somewhat acceptable levels.

Which could only ever be a good thing, because a shout behind him signalled that the swordswoman had taken the bait and was in hot pursuit.

Good. With any luck she hadn't bothered to kill Kuchiki properly before coming after him, and the Shinigami would last long enough for one of his healers to wake up and fix him. Sasuke wouldn't be happy to see the Lieutenant die. It would be a waste.

To his relief, Sasuke managed to stay ahead despite the fact that his shunpo was still shaky and demanded more concentration than he liked. Laughter followed him as lightning nipped at his heels.

Omoi had been right. Ringo truly delighted in chasing and terrifying her prey. The Uchiha was glad. He needed all the advantages he could get.

He let himself slow down a little, pretending he was tiring. He let her catch up until her last jump placed her a mere ten meters behind him. _Perfect._

 _Try to laugh about this!_

Flinging a knife to cut the trigger, Sasuke poured on a bit more speed, just enough to escape the strong, flexible branch that whipped into his path. Ringo wasn't that lucky. With how close she was behind him, she didn't have the time to dodge and met the branch head-on. Which was a bit more perilous than it seemed at first glance.

Sasuke had tied half a dozen of the Shinigami's swords to the branch so they stabbed forward with lethal intent. And Ringo, good as she was, couldn't block six thrusting swords at the same time. It was physically impossible unless you had a shield.

Sasuke watched with satisfaction as she fell backwards with an agonized scream, ripping the penetration wounds further open. The joys of having the sharp edges point upwards, so gravity made the razor edges cut deeply as it pulled her down.

But the fun didn't end there. He had put the remains of his improvised sheath to good use and had studded the ground beneath the trap with long wooden splinters. Splinters she now landed on.

 _Now!_

He dove forward and threw the katana in his left hand with the full intent to skewer her where she lay. She saw him coming, and in an impressive display of agility and pain tolerance, she rolled out of the path of his thrown sword and onto her feet, narrowly avoiding a lethal wound without letting go of her weapons. She didn't waste any time to create some distance between them, having to duck low to dodge beneath a slash that would have taken her head otherwise.

"Fucking hell, you bastard," she snarled, yanking a foot long splinter out of her side and splattering the ground with blood. "I'll get you back for this." A feral grin. "Though you have my compliments. That was a great trap."

"Thanks," Sasuke said sardonically, eying her wounds. Hmm, she was looking quite battered by now, her clothes more red than green with the amount of blood she was losing. Her strength should be greatly reduced with this. He might just have a chance to see her dead.

"Pity it didn't kill you," he added dispassionately.

She laughed a bit breathlessly. One of the blades had probably nicked her lungs. "You're gonna need more than that to do so," she shot back, eyes bright with challenge.

"Evidently," Sasuke agreed. "Tell me, are you the only shinobi here? There are disturbingly few traces in these parts."

She tilted her head, touching one of her wounds with a thoughtful look. "Hmm, I suppose you've earned some info for giving this a good shot. To be honest, I'm not entirely clear on the issue either, but it seems that only those who were resurrected by that snake bastard ended up here."

She grinned. "Those were fun times. Bunch of crazy powerful shinobi with a handicap, all trying to settle grudges. Was a bloodbath. We of the Seven banded together for the most part. You have no idea what a thrill it is to murder a Kage. Me and my partners in crime got six of them, plus a bunch of other powerful shinobi. Pity about the handicaps though. Some were downright pathetic without their jutsu, no matter how hard they tried to make up for it."

She huffed. "But that was then. Things have gotten boring by now. Masked monsters are no challenge and most Shinigami are just as pathetic. The high-ranking Shinigami rarely come out of their pretty white castles, and they're the only enemies worth fighting nowadays. The few they call ninja here are a joke, weak as Genin and ten times more arrogant. You've got no idea how many people I have to kill every time to lure a good opponent out."

Sasuke wasn't really listening anymore. Instead he was breathless with both elation and despair. Elation because the chance that Itachi would have retained his memories had just increased tremendously. If those subjected to the Edo Tensei had remembered enough to try to settle grudges then surely Itachi would at least recognize him?

At the same time, despair was already biting down on rising hope. Because if a group of very powerful shinobi had remembered what happened, surely they would have gone after every member of the group that started the ridiculous war in the first place? Itachi was good, he was _brilliant_ , and from what Sasuke remembered from before the massacre, his brother had been quite skilled at kenjutsu. Uchiha didn't really get rusty, so Itachi _should_ have at least stood a chance against the other shinobi. But had Itachi been good enough to survive everyone who had been summoned by Kabuto?

Despite his concern, Sasuke couldn't help but grin. "Thank you," he told Ringo. "You've just given me a very good reason to live."

Because even if the chances that Itachi survived were smaller than he liked, he would not rest until he had found out what had happened to his brother. And to do that, he couldn't die here.

"Yeah?" Ringo grinned back. "Well then. Let's see who will walk away here."

"Why not," Sasuke agreed. And ran for it. Slipping quickly in and out of the bushes, he reappeared with another blade in hand.

Ringo grinned gleefully as she saw the borrowed katana, not hesitating to come at him with lethal intent. "So you don't just throw them around, but can dual wield too? Sweet!"

"Glad to have your appreciation," Sasuke grunted as he repelled her, pushing her blades away before she could active her lightning jutsu again. She laughed.

It was annoying that he still didn't know how she had changed her blades, but it wasn't as if he could force them to change back. He would just have to be very careful not to get caught in her lightning techniques.

It was a good thing he had access to katana, he thought, shifting his grip on the two blades a little. The sword he had borrowed felt uncomfortable in his hand, despite that he had been unable to detect anything wrong with the weight or the balance of the weapon. It was that way for all the Shinigami blades. Sasuke ignored the oddity and concentrated on recalling the techniques of the various twin-blade kenjutsu styles he had seen during his life. The Shinobi Alliance born from the war was now proving invaluable once more, as it allowed him to call on techniques he had copied from Killer Bee, Omoi, and several other dual wielders. He would have never been able to learn from them if the Alliance hadn't existed.

Mentally thanking his allies for their generosity, Sasuke used his relearned speed to the max, weaving a deadly dance around the swordswoman. It was fortunate that while jutsu could be incorporated into sword dances, kenjutsu didn't necessarily require more than the most basic jutsu to be effective. All you really needed was a deep understanding of your own body and weapons you were familiar with to create a deadly harmony of swift strikes and edged steel.

Thanks to that, he had little problems using his kenjutsu skills against his opponent.

Unfortunately, he was up against someone who had made kenjutsu her sole speciality. No matter how well the Sharingan worked, it could not entirely make up for the sheer amount of time and dedication Ringo had put in her swordsmanship. His sword dance came smooth as walking. Hers was as natural as her heartbeat. One was simply no match for the other.

As a result, Ringo matched him step for step despite her numerous injuries, her grin growing wider with every clash of metal as he proved himself capable. "I'm liking you more and more," she said gleefully. "You're damn good for someone who doesn't use double swords as his primary weapons. You're gonna be one of my best meals yet!"

Sasuke wasn't surprised she had recognized that he usually preferred single blades. Normally he would have used his free hand for kunai and jutsu, but since he didn't have the former and could barely use the latter, the second sword was the better choice.

"You wish!" he yelled back, before doing what no true dual wielder would ever contemplate unless under the direst of circumstances.

When the pattern isn't working, _break the pattern._

Ringo's eyes widened and she sidestepped on reflex, just as the borrowed katana buried itself deeply into her shoulder, thrown with all the strength Sasuke could muster to let it slip past her guard. She hissed in pain, one arm trembling as she kept herself from dropping half of her blades.

"Damn, you _really_ like throwing these around," she complained.

Sasuke didn't wait for her to recover, no matter how disappointed he was that he didn't get her heart. Instead he called, "Hadou number eleven, Tsuzuri Raiden!" pushing as much chakra into the jutsu to make up for skipping the incantation.

Ringo had predicted the follow-up though. She darted out of the way of the glowing rope, ducking under it.

Sasuke swore and yanked his hand back, letting the jutsu collapse. The backlash caught them both.

Unfortunately, Ringo was hardly fazed. Ignoring the smoking of the tips of her weird ear-like hairdo, she threw a lightning bolt his way. Sasuke jumped aside, but was still not up to the speed he was used to. Her jutsu caught him on the arm, electricity rushing through it with devastating force.

He couldn't contain a short cry as he fell to the ground, muscles twitching and useless under the onslaught. It was far stronger than the shocks he had gotten from crossing swords with her. Did she increase the power? His fingers spasmed, and Sasuke had to grit his teeth to keep his grip on his own blade.

The spasms subsided just in time for Sasuke to avoid the prongs aiming for his throat. Everything hurt, but he managed to get back on his feet, sword raised and ready.

"Man, you're tough," Ringo coughed, an appreciative look on her face. She wiped away a trickle of blood that escaped the corner of her mouth before yanking the katana out of her shoulder, ignoring the gush of blood that followed the exit of steel. "Most don't get up that fast. Should've fought you from the start."

She smirked, raising her weapon with her still working arm. The other hung loosely at her side, ready to strike, but no longer strong enough to keep up with her healthy limb. Lightning sparked threateningly from the three prongs of the raised weapon. "It was fun, but this will be the finale. Thrill me , 'kay?"

"We'll see," Sasuke replied, raising his own sword with trembling arms. Lighting really wasn't good for the nervous system. Sakura would scold him if she could see the state he was in now.

Actually, he didn't need Sakura to scold him. He was scolding himself already. Handicap or not, he was disappointed in himself that he wasn't doing better. She was already weakened, yet he was still struggling against her. He really hated that he did not have his Sharingan right now. It would've made things so much easier. If nothing else, he would have avoided that last attack and wouldn't be fighting to stay on his feet right now.

He would die before he would give up though. Giving up just wasn't in him.

 _:Do you require aid?:_

Sasuke started, surprised by the voice. He barely managed to avoid getting beheaded by Ringo as a result.

 _:Call me.:_

Rolling away, he staggered to his feet, narrowly blocking a blow aimed at his stomach, feeling electricity slam through his arms as a result. The voice was distracting. Then again, so were the black spots in his vision and the lingering weakness in his muscles.

 _Lightning. Nerve damage. Eyes transmit vision through nerves… Question, can she decide which part of the body is affected most?_

… _Bet she can._

Ashes and fire, this was _so troublesome._

And if he didn't get his act together, utterly deadly.

 _:Call my name.:_

Sasuke let out a frustrated breath. His legs didn't want to obey him. He forced them to anyway, launching himself into another shunpo to escape Ringo's dancing edge and the energy that sparked off of it.

Only, _something_ went wrong, the new technique clashing with old reflexes, and he crashed to the ground, barely two meters away from the cackling redhead, who, despite her injuries, was still having a lot of fun chasing him around. Sasuke groaned. Damn reflexes. There was a reason why he had tried to kill her with a trap first. Didn't need reflexes for traps.

And… it wasn't a good thing when his head was muddled enough for him to let his thoughts go on tangents during a dangerous battle. Ringo wasn't about to let him get away with it.

 _:Call my name.:_

Sasuke shot away, stumbling out of the range of Ringo's blade. A unsteady shunpo had him running through the forest, creating some distance between him and the madwoman. He flung another knife, but this time Ringo expected the trap and obliterated the thick bough that came thundering down. Her weapons boomed with the ear-splitting crack of thunder and the branch exploded in a rain of lethal splinters which Sasuke only narrowly managed to avoid.

Damn. Not good. All the trap had accomplished was a few seconds reprieve.

 _:Call my name!:_

"What's your name then?" Sasuke gritted out as he hid behind a tree to catch his breath. Terrific, he was talking to voices in his head. Now all he needed were hallucinations, and he could be carted straight to the loony bin.

Around him, the world slid away, and suddenly he found himself standing upon a bough as broad as a road with endless canopy to all directions. Sunlight filtered through leaves, falling in beams of glittering light and dappling every inch of the area with brightness and shadows.

… _Oooh, fuck my_ life.

"I didn't mean that literally," Sasuke snarled at nothing.

"You require aid," a voice spoke behind him. Sasuke whirled around, and then stopped to stare, jaw dropping in disbelief.

There, standing on empty air at the same height as he was a creature straight out of legends. Red eyes met the luminous gaze of an elegant cross between a deer and an imperial dragon. The creature was as large as a horse and glowed like a pale star between the scattered beams of sunlight, wild mane and sweeping tail ethereal like spun moonlight, and scales glinting like sparks of pale blue lighting where the sunlight scattered off them like fireworks.

"Aid I can give you," the surreal creature continued, "But for that you have to call my name."

Sasuke gathered himself. For a moment he contemplated the wisdom of talking back to his hallucinations, but then decided that it really didn't matter since he was having hallucinations in the first place. "What the hell are you, and what kind of aid are you talking about."

The star-bright gaze didn't waver. "I am part of you, mirror of yourself. I am your power and your sword, heart and soul, and to wield me in full you need my name."

"… Really now," Sasuke replied, mind racing. A creature that was his sword, who apparently required a name… Didn't Ringo and Kuchiki call upon something when they transformed their swords? A command to their blades? Was it like a weird jutsu, like hand seals to channel the chakra properly? Was _that_ the key to the power the other two had unleashed?

If it was, exactly how drunk had the universe been when it came up with that?

The creature chuckled. Sasuke gave it a very wary look.

"As I am part of you, I can sense your thoughts. You are not wrong."

Sasuke raised a brow and couldn't resist asking, "What, about the key part or the drunk-universe part?"

The creature huffed in amusement. "The first, though I would not be too terribly surprised it the latter held some truth as well."

Despite himself, Sasuke smirked. Hallucination or not, this dragon-deer creature sounded like good company. Pity he didn't really have time for hallucinations right now. This one looked like one worth investigating. After all, it wasn't as if he had eaten anything weird that might have caused him to see things, and he didn't think Ringo's lightning was capable of this.

As if the thought had been the trigger – probably was, given what the creature had already told him – the draconic being turned serious again. "You wish to defeat her."

Sasuke shrugged. "Naturally. It's her or me."

"Indeed. Do you desire my aid then?"

Sasuke studied the creature for a while. Oh hell, whatever. Might as well give this a shot. "If you're willing to give it."

The creature bowed its regal head. "My name is ..."

Sasuke frowned. "What?"

The creature huffed, this time in mild exasperation. "My wielder, if you want my aid, you must as least try honestly."

Sasuke tilted his head. He was still very sceptical, but really, it was common knowledge that hallucinations shouldn't be taken seriously. That lead to bad places.

Then again, it wasn't as if he had much of a future to look forward to if he didn't figure something out soon.

He sighed, gathered every bit of scepticism into a big heap and crushed it with all the determination and discipline he had learned in ANBU. Crazy or not, if that was all you'd got then you'd better give it a damn good try.

"Right, tell me again," he demanded. This time he strained his ears to catch the name that had sounded like a couple of rustling leaves.

The creature regarded him for a moment, before nodding in approval. "My name is-"

The real world roared back into focus, just in time for Sasuke to see pointed edges headed his way.

Sasuke smiled tiredly. It was utterly ridiculous, but the whole being-dead gig had been so far. Complaining wouldn't change the reality he had to live with. He whirled out of the way, raising his sword to the heavens as he did so.

" _Blaze across the firmament, Kouten!"_

White-blue light illuminated the forest. Ringo yelped as she was blinded by the sudden brightness. In his hand, Sasuke felt his katana's weight change ever so slightly.

Sasuke didn't give his opponent time to blink the spots out of her eyes. He slashed down, thin threads of light spraying like deadly rain from his blade. Ringo swore as every single muscle in her body seized and froze.

 _Not exactly Chidori Nagashi. But close, so close!_

It had been just a handful of days that he had lacked the ability, but the sheer joy of regaining one of his favourite techniques was breath-taking in its strength.

And while Ringo's technique was devastating in the level of injury it caused, Sasuke's was superior in that it did not cause injury, but instead manipulated his opponent's nervous system so precisely that it betrayed its owner.

Some might call his technique weaker, but in his opinion paralysis was much more useful than mere nerve damage.

His next slash took Ringo's head, so fast that the stupefied look on her face didn't fade in the least. The sudden end of the battle was as jarring as the twin thumps of body and head hitting the ground in the sudden silence.

With an exhausted sigh, Sasuke let himself fall back against a tree, sliding down until he sat down heavily on the ground. Now the battle was over and the adrenaline started to ebb, every injury came clamouring loudly to cash in, complaining all the while with the kind of insistent sharpness that meant he would be feeling them for a long time to come. There wasn't an inch of him that wasn't in agony.

 _Guess she got me even better than I'd thought._

Always the problem with battle rush. You tended to ignore anything that wasn't immediately deadly.

Trying to resist the bone-deep exhaustion that dragged at his senses, he let his eye fall on his blade, curious what form it had taken.

The change wasn't as big as he had expected after seeing Ringo's and Kuchiki's sword transformation. All that had really changed about his sword was the tsuba. It was now a narrow, rounded band at the top of the hilt, gleaming like silver, thick enough to provide some protection against an enemy's weapon slipping down the blade but not enough to risk getting snagged and making disarming easy.

 _Well, look at that. Managed to get rid of the tsuba after all._

He lost consciousness between one breath and the next.

* * *

 **Aaand,** _ **cut!**_ **Okay, this whole fight turned out ridiculously long, behold the reason why I rarely write complete fighting scenes. I just hope it was as exciting as I thought it was.**

 **Now, on the fight itself:**

 **I noticed in the episode that featured Ringo that her lighting attacks had a bit too much of a heat effect (e.g. heavily charred and burning trees) and explosions (shockwave effect). Lightning can do that, but not on that scale and to such a large variation of mediums. Not to mention that if anything should have exploded, it should have been the trees, not the ground, as sap violently evaporating in an enclosed vessel (aka, the tree), is far more explosive than moisture evaporating between loose grains. True, thunder creates sound, which is basically a shockwave as well, but that isn't** _ **nearly**_ **violent enough to kick up the dust clouds we see in the anime. I know, Naruto physics aren't the same as ours, but I'm trying to make some sense here. So I'm guessing, what she was using weren't entirely pure lighting techniques, despite their appearance. Or rather, it were lighting attacks with a bit more spice. As in, electricity, if manipulated right, can** **generate heat. And thunder, turned up to the eleventh, creates some kind of shockwave. So if you're wondering what Sasuke was talking about when he analysed Ringo's ability, this was the reasoning behind it.**

 **(By the way, I've never understood why Omoi's marsh strategy worked. They're high-ranking shinobi in a world where even Genin can stand on** _ **water**_ **, for crying out loud! Worse, Ringo Ameyuri is from** _ **Kiri.**_ **Water-walking is as basic a skill as running there. Escaping a marsh should be a cakewalk! Did the lightning fry their brains or something?)**

 **As for Soujun's Shikai, Isshin and Ichigo prove that Zanpakutou abilities are at least somewhat hereditary, so yeah, Soujun's carries some similarities with Byakuya's. 'Shidareyanagi' means 'Weeping Willow'.**

 **Sasuke gained his Shikai already because from what I can gather from the time Ichigo got Zangetsu, gaining your Shikai is not about being well-trained, but about determination. As in, if you truly, truly want it, have the will and drive to get it, then you can, no matter how new you are to the trade. I'm not sure if it would be possible for a Zanpakutou spirit to drag their wielder into his Inner World without him even knowing about the significance of the blade, but Urahara was vague enough towards Ichigo about the whole process (cause let's face it, Ichigo didn't know that much more than Sasuke here) that I think it's in the realm of possibilities.**

 **Kouten means 'Revolution of the Heavens'. I think it suits Sasuke's character. And kudos for everyone who can guess what his spirit is. Don't worry, it's not difficult.**

 **I'm kinda undecided on what should happen next because both options have merit, so let's hear your opinion. Should Itachi be alive or not? Give reasons for why or why not!**

 **See ya next time!**

 **PS. Already got a question about it, so let me clarify: 'snake bastard' can refer to either Orochimaru or Kabuto (Kabuto was pretty snaky near the end). So _everyone_ subjected to the Edo Tensei ended up in Soul Society. Now, Keeper (would be nice if you logged in next time so I can reply more directly), wondered how the fighting could have become so bad when Harashima, Tobirama, Hiruzen, and Minato were present as well. Let me remind you that these four Hokages were no saints (no matter how Kishimoto painted them as all that is good and holy), and most of those who were resurrected were _not_ friends of one another. Quite a few were actually active enemies, given the past Ninja Wars; Naruto might have been ridiculous enough to become friends with everyone and their grandma, but at least he has never had _flee on sight_ orders attached to his name. That _matters_. **

**To quote Ringo's view on the issue: 'Bunch of crazy powerful shinobi with a handicap, all trying to settle grudges.' The handicap being, in this case, that _everyone_ had issues with their chakra and _no one_ could use chakra-based jutsu. Now let me remind you that the four Hokages all relied pretty heavily on charka-based jutsu (Harashima on his Mukoton, Hiruzen who was famous his extensive knowledge in this area, and Minato on the Hiraishin). Even if they managed to find each other (which wouldn't have been all that easy given the size of Soul Society) and worked together, they would have a hard time fending of the shinobi who specialized in less chakra-reliant combat styles (e.g. the Seven Swordsmen; though they primarily used special equipment, I assume that they at least knew their way around ordinary katana). Of course, they might have won and survived. But their chances are not nearly as high as they would have been if they had kept their abilities, especially because they were all fairly well-known and thus would have had a lot of people from other villages hunting them. **

**Not to mention that the Shinigami were _not amused_ with the fighting (especially if it happened near Seireitei or on Academy grounds, which is a distinct possibility, given that every shinobi would have been interested in the Shinigami), and thus might not have cared whether they left any of the troublemakers alive. **

**So yeah. 'Bloodbath' really is an apt description.**


	4. Chapter 4

**Special thanks to everyone who gave me their opinion on the whole Itachi-issue. You guys have been a great help and I now have made my decision. Also, c** **ongrats for everyone who guessed Sasuke's spirit to be a kirin. You were right.**

 **Now, on to the story! Enjoy!**

* * *

Black wings fluttered on the soft breeze, dancing in time with the waving branches above. Grey and gold traded a look before returning they attention to the blood painting the forest in various places, some more unlikely than the others.

"My, my. Now this is interesting."

"What caught your interest?" asked the other dryly.

Grey eyes slid up towards bloodstained leaves and deadly steel.

"Ingeniously improvised traps and a flawless decapitation," he murmured. "Neither is easy or commonly learned. Kuchiki-fukutaichou is right. Shinrin-san is hiding far more than he lets on."

An eyebrow rose. "You think the woman spoke the truth?"

"Natural manifestation of his Zanpakutou, extraordinary skill, and remembering far more of his life than he should. What are the odds that she was wrong?"

XXX(xxxx)XXX(xxxx)XXX(xxxx)XXX

Sasuke woke up in pain. Considering his last hour awake, he supposed he shouldn't be surprised.

Without giving any outward sign of his conscious state, he listened and tried to get an idea where he was. Annoyance flashed through him, both at the pain and the dullness of his senses that came from a combination of drugs and his body diverting a lot of resources towards recovery. For a moment he focused his attention on analysing his own state. Passive analysis, something Sakura had taught him during the endless months he'd spend on probation after the Fourth Shinobi War. Chakra – and reiryoku too, he expected – moved differently through injured tissues than through healthy ones, so all you needed was some minimal chakra control and a deep awareness of your own body. Passive _healing_ took far more control so he couldn't attempt that yet, but knowing what was wrong with him would at least tell him what his options might be from here.

Injuries, buried deep within his flesh where Ringo's lightning had seared him, damaging muscles, nerves, and even bone in some places. Patches of healthy tissue where there shouldn't have been near his more vital organs and traces of accelerated healing near less vital ones, a clear sign that he'd received treatment from a trained medic. Bruises and cuts had been treated through mundane means, bandages and ointments clinging to his skin. Overall, his state was… manageable.

He didn't know how long it had been – a few days at most, judging from his injuries – but he had the feeling his healing rate had decreased with death. Granted, it had originally increased because he had absorbed part of Orochimaru's abilities after the Snake had tried to devour him, so he supposed it was not that odd he no longer had it. After all, he didn't even have his Sharingan anymore, and if he had lost his inborn ability then what chance did acquired abilities stand?

Being dead truly was more trouble than it was worth. Naruto probably would have loudly pointed out a random silver lining to the entire aggravating situation, but the idiot blond wasn't here. More's the pity. Sasuke could use some positivity to balance the fact that Kuchiki and his men would have to be complete and utter idiots not to realize how little he had told them. And to guess how much his omissions had actually concealed.

He strained his senses, sensing several people in whatever place he was in, their signatures dulled by what he assumed to be walls, but no one seemed to be present in his room. He couldn't be sure because of the fog surrounding his brain, but for now he would assume he was alone. The Shinigami were probably keeping an eye on him through other means, but having no one right there present with him would buy him a little time if he tried to escape. Not that he would do that straight away. He didn't know enough about any potential measures the Shinigami might employ to keep him captive to try it when he was still so uncertain of his current position. He would only take the gamble if the Shinigami proved to be too unreasonable in the face of his secrecy and Ringo's blabbering.

With a sigh he put a hand beneath himself to push himself up.

Or rather, tried to.

A soft metallic _clang_ accompanied a tug on his wrists. Very familiar tugs.

Well, set it on fire and scatter the ashes.

They had restrained him. Tied him to the headboard, where they would have had an easy view of his hands, forcefully exposing the rest of his body. He couldn't even use his legs because the Shinigami had been thorough and had tied his ankles to the bed as well. He _hated_ this position.

They had also stolen all his clothes and equipment and had replaced it with a flimsy white yukata, but at the moment being bound ticked him off the most.

Though his sword missing was a close second.

 _Kouten. His– my sword's name is Kouten._

Sasuke wasn't sure if it hadn't all been a hallucination. Really, a Kirin as his sword spirit, a being that was part of his _soul_ – it wouldn't surprise him if he _had_ imagined it. Though if he had, he really needed his head checked because hallucinating during a fight was bound to be deadly sooner or later. But on the off chance he hadn't… well, he wouldn't have wanted to leave his sword behind anyway. Quality steel like that was hard to get.

Assuming he would be able to leave. The restraints told him that the Shinigami really weren't keen on that.

Sasuke was not surprised. Kuchiki would be a fool not to keep someone of questionable motives and loyalties from running free. And Sasuke wasn't. Just disappointed. What happened to being courteous to people who might not be enemies? Wasn't it supposed to be some samurai standard to give potential non-hostiles a chance to prove themselves friendly? The Kami knew that Naruto had always been jabbering on about that, the idiot.

With an aggravated sigh he inspected the restraints.

Black. Almost ribbon-like, and wrapped tight around wrists and metal bedframe. They looked almost like strips of leather, but they definitely weren't. There were no knots, just the hum of energy running through the black material. Jutsu-based then. If you knew how to do it you could probably dissolve them with a touch. Maybe draining them would work. Though if the Shinigami had any brains in their heads, they would make it so that a prisoner could never get the things off on his own.

Damn. Where was Killerbee's ridiculous sword when you needed it?

"So you are awake."

A woman. In the door opening. A woman whose eyes were cold as glacial meltwater and somehow reminded him of the Hokage after Naruto had succeeded in dragging him back to Konoha. Distrustful and not at all forgiving, only her promise to Naruto and her injuries from the fight keeping her from letting him feel the full force of her anger.

A justified comparison, Sasuke felt as he observed the black-haired woman. Her clothes might hide a lot, but there was a quiet, understated strength in every line of her body. A Kage's confidence and grace to her slightest movements. Her reiatsu was deceptively soft and tranquil, like thick snow on a mountain's slope, waiting for that one tremor that would turn it into a wall of icy death. It carried the same stillness as a night on the battlefield, where everyone was silent in anticipation of the moment someone would pick up a sign that the enemy was launching its next attack.

The sword at her side was almost an afterthought. It was not the weapon she would rely on first, given how loosely it hung from her shoulder, like a bag she didn't care about losing. Even if she was fast at drawing the blade, the saya would still get in the way of her movements unless she threw it away. No, it looked as if she considered her sword only for after, for when her enemy would prove worthy of her blade.

Which meant that she was more than confident that she could handle any first strike. That alone was worthy of concern.

Her countenance remained closed off as she continued to speak. "I am Captain Unohana Retsu of the Fourth Division of the Gotei Thirteen. Once you are well enough for questioning, you will be presented to the Captains assigned to this case." A serene smile, as effective as any warning look he'd ever seen before. "Kuchiki-fukutaichou has shared his insights with us. For now there is still some doubt about your intentions, but if you attempt to escape you will be declared a criminal immediately. Have I made myself clear?"

Sasuke firmly resisted the urge to grimace. Great. So Kuchiki had survived and had landed him in hot water before he was even back on his feet. Bloody wonderful. "Crystal, Unohana-taichou," he replied with a blank face.

The Captain smile widened and Sasuke had to suppress a shiver of unease. What she was projecting wasn't quite killing intent, merely poised on the knife-edge of it, but that just made it all the more unsettling. That took skill. Sasuke took it for the dire warning it was. Forget the Lieutenant, it was obvious this Captain was far more dangerous than Kuchiki could ever be.

With brisk professionality Unohana checked him over, only applying a small measure of healing jutsu – or kidou, as Kuchiki had called it – ensuring his wounds weren't dangerous but still incapacitating enough that Sasuke would have a hard time moving if his pain tolerance hadn't been as high as it was. Smart lady.

"Well, it seems you are recovering nicely," Unohana judged. For the life of him, Sasuke couldn't figure out whether she considered that to be a good or a bad thing. "The medicines will wear off soon. I will tell the Captains to prepare for your questioning."

Sasuke narrowed his eyes at her retreating back as she left without further ado. Nice touch, informing him about what was hanging over his head when he couldn't do anything but wait. She didn't even tell him how long he had.

Exactly what he would have done, if he wanted to see whether his prisoner would panic. Panic in and on its own didn't say much given that anyone who found themselves captive and soon to be subjected to interrogation might panic, innocent or not. But it was an indication that it was worth prying at whatever story would be told.

And even if someone didn't panic… well, that said a lot too.

Knowing that he was being observed, he settled for projecting a contained level of worry. Kuchiki already knew he didn't scare easily, but it was better to be underestimated a little than not at all. He would have to play by ear more than enough as it was.

XXX(xxxx)XXX(xxxx)XXX(xxxx)XXX

Shunsui was not a happy man. In fact, he was annoyed, and had been for a long time. Annoyed and tired of problems that dragged on for way too long. The last decade had been trying. Mad geniuses popping up everywhere and getting into vicious fights without any regard for innocent bystanders. Some of them cruel and bloodthirsty enough to slaughter entire towns and any Shinigami they could find just for entertainment.

They were lucky that the new head of the Shihouin Clan and Captain of the Second Division had had a genius subordinate on hand to counter at least some of the havoc. It was a pity that it wasn't enough. Thanks to young Urahara Kisuke they had taken care of the most obvious ones, but they didn't know how many more of them still ran loose. While their tactics bore some resemblance to the tactics of the Onmitsukidou, their skills and abilities were so varied that even their resident genius had a hard time against them. You couldn't predict what you did not know existed, after all. And they were so terrifyingly good at hiding.

Truly, the fact that they needed a genius at all was telling. Most Shinigami didn't stand a chance against the shinobi. If their Shinigami were not killed then they were simply left running in circles trying to locate their targets. The Onmitsukidou were only slightly more successful in tracking these dangerous people.

Which was not always a blessing. most targets had been content to leave the Shinigami agents alone as long they did not try to attack, but there had been quite a few who had reacted downright viciously to the Onmitsukidou. This would be less of a problem if the Onmitsukidou could conceal themselves from their targets, but unfortunately, these shinobi seemed to have an special extra sense just for locating Shinigami.

 _Or are exceptionally well-trained in finding hidden enemies,_ Shunsui thought to himself, tapping a nail on the smooth surface of the table as they waited. It was not an encouraging thought, but one that unfortunately had proven true the last few years.

And outright confirmed, later, when they finally found a young shinobi who was refreshingly sane. Pity he hadn't been as much help as they'd liked. Oh, he did his best to help them track the shinobi at large, but the other shinobi were often just too good at hiding in the vast lands of Rukongai. Other than that he just gave them a couple of names and descriptions of people who should only be approached by Captains, and confirmed their suspicion that the shinobi hadn't come from the Living World they were familiar with. Which was good, because everyone had been wondering how the hell they had overlooked a warrior civilization of that calibre.

It really was a pity their young shinobi was just a kid and, by his own admission, probably one of the weakest shinobi that had ended up in their midst. The other two shinobi they had managed to corner had fought to the death, and the only time they had succeeded in capturing one, the man had been more tight lipped than a winter-frozen mountain. Getting any kind of information out of him had been like pulling teeth from a grumpy Menos.

Shunsui had the feeling that they had lucked out to have an approachable shinobi on their side at all. If there had been more of them then they'd either been killed or hidden themselves very well.

They all hoped that Shinrin would be a bit like their young ally. Since Shinrin's previous interactions with Kuchiki-fukutaichou had seemed promising – or at least, indicated that Shinrin wasn't likely to turn aggressive on a whim – they had decided a hearing would be a good place to start.

Not that they were unprepared should they have misjudged the situation. It was why, a few Onmitsukidou officers aside, no other Shinigami were present in the room and the furniture was sparse, only a few low tables and zabuton to kneel on. At least Captains and Onmitsukidou had a chance if things turned sour. Ordinary Shinigami… not so much.

Shunsui hadn't forgotten the carnage of some of the battlefields the shinobi had left behind.

There was a polite knock on the door.

Shunsui pulled himself from his slumped position and felt Juushirou and Shinji straighten next to him. The young Shihouin princess swiftly ended her quiet conversation with her subordinate. The only one who didn't move was Ginrei, but then again, the man had always been stiff as a statue.

"Enter," Ginrei ordered.

Their senpai entered, her usual serenity carrying a stillness that spoke of carefully concealed tension. A guiding hand kept a blindfolded Shinrin one step in front of her.

 _In front to her? Does she feel she has to keep an eye on him that much?_

Then the full implications of what he saw hit him, and Shunsui realized that she was right to be so wary. Younger Shinigami might not see it, but Shunsui had lived long enough to notice when someone's stance was as balanced as that, especially when they were _blindfolded_. Even with his arms locked behind his back in heavy restraints meant for extremely powerful criminals and his sight taken from him, every step Shinrin took was relaxed and rooted like an old tree. Not even the slightest stumbling or staggering, despite the subtle hints of pain in his movements. Oh, he feigned it, sure, but nothing of it was _real._

That? That was a sign of lethal skill right there. _No one_ could do that without training. And no one would train that if they did not think they might be captured at one point or another.

Shunsui would eat his hat if Shinrin wasn't ready to fight even now.

They watched attentively as Retsu guided the young man in a kneeling position on a cushion of his own, securing his restraints and ankles to a heavy metal ring that stuck from the floor and had been placed there of exactly that purpose. Only then did she remove the blindfold.

Shinrin's eyes were only a hair-width opened, like Soujun had said the young man was wont to do, but they swept through the room and assessed everyone in the span of one heartbeat.

 _Exits, obstacles, number of people– kid is fast._

Even though he had expected it, it was startling to observe a complete lack of fear in a prisoner. The young man feigned contained nervousness well, but Shunsui was experienced enough that he noticed that Shinrin's look of worry held no true feelings behind it. All he could sense from Shinrin was ice cold calculation.

The others had seen it as well. Even Ginrei, who did not have a lot of experience with non-nobles outside of his Division, had noticed something off about their young guest. Then again, Shunsui supposed he shouldn't be surprised. Shinrin's deceit was very subtle, and interacting with nobles was all about subtlety. Plus there was the fact that the man knew the Shihouin Clan well.

"Current status, Unohana-taichou?" Juushirou asked, studying their guest just as intensely as the rest of them.

"Nothing he won't recover from. You can freely proceed with your tasks, Ukitake-taichou."

"Very well. Thank you, Unohana-taichou." Retsu politely dipped her head and left. Juushirou turned towards their young guest. "Well then. Shinrin-san. I assume you know why you are here?"

Shinrin tilted his head, his attention focusing on Juushirou. Something in that carefully constructed expression set Shunsui on edge. "I believe you have some questions for me."

Juushirou smiled back, kind and genial, the way he did when he wanted to put a wary Rukongai youngster at ease. You'd almost believe that one word from any of them wouldn't see the young man dead. "That we do. Our apologies for the inconvenience," he said, gesturing at the heavy, slate-grey blocks of steel, kidou, and sekkiseki that trapped Shinrin's arms behind his back, binding him at his wrists and just above his elbows so even tricks as dislocating his thumbs would not work. "I do hope you won't hold those against us. Precautions, you understand?"

Shunsui almost smiled at Shinrin's careful non-reaction. Had his eyebrow just twitched?

"I understand," Shinrin confirmed.

"Good. Now, would you mind telling us where you come from? We have been dealing with your kind for a while now, but we're still not clear on your origins."

Shinrin frowned as if confused. "My kind?"

It was Ginrei who answered that. "A group of souls who possess unusual skills and who recall more of their lives than we've ever seen," the Kuchiki Clan Head clarified. Raised a pale brow. "A group that calls themselves shinobi. My Lieutenant reported that his opponent identified you as one of them. Is that not true?"

Shinrin eyed the Kuchiki Clan Head with something close to disbelief. "She was a raving lunatic who called your Shinigami 'prey' and talked about gobbling people up like treats."

His eyes were drawn to Shinji when he laughed at that.

"Hah, yeah, I just _bet_ she was," the blond snickered. "But ya see, funny thing is, people like her? They've been a pain in the ass for years, but they've never lied about something like _that_ before. They pretended ta be something other than they were without any shame and let ya believe a hundred things about them, but they never _denied_ they're shinobi. And they never called someone who wasn't one that either." A wide grin, a sneer and a challenge in one. "Just like ya, ain't it? Ya called her crazy and unreliable, but ya didn't say she's _wrong._ "

Shinrin was silent.

Shunsui remembered what their informant had said. _We have our own customs, and one of them is that we won't deny what we are. Neither our nature or our alliances. Not unless we're on an important mission or dealing with sworn enemies._

Well, how'd you like that? Shinrin still wasn't denying anything.

Eyes grey and sharp as the blade of an katana regarded Shinrin with amusement. "Thought so. Drop the act, kid. We ain't fooled."

Shinrin regarded them all for a few seconds, before he conceded. His act fell away as if he had shrugged off a cloak. His face became cold and expressionless, as if everything that made him a person had been erased, leaving only a blank mask behind. His reiatsu had been churning with apprehension, but now became still as a mountain pool.

For a moment, all Shinigami could only blink. That… hadn't been the reaction they'd expected.

It was damn creepy. And not only that, what it _implied…_

… _We knew some are capable of this. But only the most skilled. The most dangerous. The ones who have the best control and the coldest minds. Control he shouldn't_ have _, blast it all._ Soujun had said Shinrin's reiatsu had behaved oddly during their trip. But Shinrin hadn't been able to hide from Soujun. _Did he gain this much control over it already?_

It was ludicrous, but unless Shinrin had _wanted_ Kuchiki-kun to find him, it seemed the only explanation. Granted, there was a possibility that the former was the case, but personally, Shunsui didn't have much faith in that one.

So _…._

 _Well, we_ did _always call those people geniuses._

Of course, Shinrin could be far more experienced than he'd said he was, but according to Soujun, Ringo had confirmed Shinrin's claim that he was new in Soul Society. And after all this time, they knew that if there was one thing shinobi excelled at, it was gathering information. That, and deceit.

Far as he was aware, Ringo'd had no reason to lie.

Which meant that Shinrin probably really _was_ a genius of incredible skill. Who, thanks to their own prodding, was no longer projecting anything. By wanting to see clearer, they instead had managed to make reading Shinrin even more obscure.

Mentally, Shunsui heaved a mournful sigh. Truly, these shinobi were such a headache _._

XXX(xxxx)XXX(xxxx)XXX(xxxx)XXX

Sasuke had to fight for the calm he wanted. _Breathe in. Breathe out. Enter Kaijin as swiftly as you can._

From what he had seen of these Shinigami they were too sharp by half. Kneeling as he was in the centre of a half-circle of tables, the Shinigami could study him with ease while Sasuke had to constantly turn his head to keep an eye on everyone present. Six at the tables and, behind him, two guards at the door. The guards were not all that important, low-level Chuunin at most, if Sasuke had read them right. The seated Shinigami… those were the ones he really worried about.

Sasuke was sure these were some of the Captains Kuchiki had talked about given the haori each of them wore, so similar to Captain Unohana's. Kuchiki had said many of them were old and experienced, and it showed. And not just in the quiet hum of power he could sense from them through the leaching blockade of his senses that were his restraints. Sasuke's acting had not fooled them, and given how they had tried to use that to rattle him, it was clear they could read emotions with ease.

Granted, Sasuke had never been good at pretending to be afraid or even concerned, and he had never been someone who hid his opinions either, so he supposed it was not surprising that they had seen through him. But letting them read him was not something he could allow at this point.

Emotions could grant you great strength in battle, but they had no place in an interrogation unless you could use them to manipulate the person on the other side of the table. Therefore _everyone_ in ANBU knew the Kaijin meditation. Because there might just come a time where you were captured and your captors too indifferent or clever to fall for manipulations. In such a situation emotions were nothing but a burden, so ANBU operatives made sure they wouldn't have them. wouldn't show them. wouldn't let even their chakra betray them, if they did not desire it to.

The Shinigami tried to provoke him into showing emotion, and he was very familiar with the look in their eyes. They wanted to drag as much information out of him as they could. And damn it, he _knew_ himself. If they found the right spot to pick at they would likely succeed at getting _something_ from him. And who knew what the consequences would be? For him, and for the people resurrected by Edo Tensei? The _good_ people; the comrades and honourable shinobi? For _Itachi?_

No, he could not let them play their game. Not until he knew more of their intentions. He would not allow it.

Fortunately, the counter to their strategy was simple, if not very easy. Simply have no emotions at all. None.

 _Calm your emotions and you'll calm your chakra. Silence them entirely and your chakra will follow._

The deeper layers of the meditation were _meant_ to combat a lack of chakra control, to silence every reflexive expression of emotion even when genjutsu, injury, or drugs had made proper control impossible. Sasuke was glad the same principals still applied after death.

He took a breath. Another.

 _Ice._

Heart firmly locked away, he regarded the room with cold calculation. Had he still had his emotions, the look he aimed at the Shinigami around him would have been a challenge.

It would be interesting to watch how the Shinigami reacted to a complete information blackout.

"You…," one of the guards gasped. "What did you _do_?"

Deep within his meditation, Sasuke buried the urge to snort. Guy was dressed like a Genin going over the top on the whole ninja look, and he sure reacted like one as well. Proud of being able to sense chakra well enough to sense the emotional fluxes in a person's energies, and then _extremely_ disturbed when the fluxes suddenly disappeared as if they had never existed.

Not that Sasuke could blame him for that. The first time he'd had the technique demonstrated he had been startled too.

 _As if a fire went out without warning, leaving nothing but cold ashes and darkness. Only the pulses of heart and lungs remaining, like tiny ripples in a lifeless mountain pool. Like a body without soul._

"Chimonamidamonai," one of the Shinigami at the table breathed, deeply intrigued. Blond, and sitting next to a purple-haired woman who might just be a former Kumo native, given her skin colour. The only one who wasn't wearing a white haori or ridiculous ninja garb, so he was probably some kind of specialist. "'Heart of Stone', I believe some shinobi call it. Also known as 'Kanryuu' and 'Reiketsu', the latter being the general name. A meditation technique meant to shut out any and all emotion. Interesting, I thought only a select few knew that one."

Chimonamidamonai? That was what Iwa called Kaijin, the heart of the boulders and mountains they so treasured. The meditation that turned the brittle human mind in an unmoveable fortress that could shut out pain and reality until they meant nothing more than the whistling wind. Kanryuu was similarly a name specific for Kiri, the ice cold killing current that was a steady presence beneath even the wildest waves, the dragging force that did not _care_ who lived and who drowned in its embrace, and which forever guarded the secrets of the deep. Reiketsu was the general concept of chilling your soul until even the most terrible torture could not shake you.

Who had given the Shinigami those terms?

XXX(xxxx)XXX(xxxx)XXX(xxxx)XXX

Footsteps came down the hall, quiet as falling leaves. The Captains looked up from their meals. They had decided to take a break and had left the still emotionless Shinrin in Unohana's care. Ginrei and Yoruichi had left to attend to their duties as Clan Heads, but other than those two everyone was still present. They were only mildly surprised to see the young shinobi they had managed to tempt onto their side, dressed in the civilian garb he used to blend into the crowds of Rukongai.

"My apologies for being late, I only caught the rumours yesterday," he said with an elegant bow, followed by a moment of hesitation. "How is it going?"

"Still not talking. We've been at him for what, five hours now?" Shunsui sighed, part exasperated and part in admiration for Shinrin's skill. There hadn't been a single twitch in his expression or reiatsu since the young man had started his meditation. Shunsui knew Jinzen and the effects it had on those using it, but that was different. To still be aware of the world and maintain this unnatural stillness… well, that was impressive. Granted, they had stayed civilized so far so they hadn't used more than intimidation tactics, but still. They had all been taking turns prodding and they were _Captains_ , but Shinrin hadn't responded to any of them, only asking a handful of questions in a dead, monotone voice. Most of which they hadn't felt comfortable answering yet.

A nod of understanding. "I am not surprised."

Shunsui and several others turned to look at the young man. Raised a brow.

The feminine boy shrugged, a graceful rise and fall of shoulders, like petals drifting down. "The one who resurrected us was no fool. He did not waste his energy on people without skill."

"Fair enough," Juushirou sighed, taking another bite of rice.

Shunsui sighed as well and turned towards their resident genius. Young Kisuke was tapping his chin with the back of his chopsticks, food barely eaten and face almost as unreadable as Shinrin's, though his was a thoughtful silence instead of an empty one. As if sensing Shunsui's eyes on him, he looked up.

Catching his friend's interest, Juushirou turned towards the blond as well. "What do you think?"

Kisuke sighed. "I think Shinrin-san is exasperatingly good at pretending to be a statue. Though so far I don't get the feeling he's hostile towards us. It is a pity I only have his behaviour at the start, so I can't say much yet. His questions are interesting, but other than that he's entirely too tight-lipped." His eyes grew distant, deep in thought.

They patiently waited for him to continue.

"He's just gathering information," Kisuke decided. "Just… waiting to see what we will do." Light grey eyes turned to the boy. "You said most shinobi declare their affiliations."

There was a chuckle, soft and sweet. Truly, if he hadn't told them he was male it would be all too easy to mistake the young shinobi for a lovely girl. "Unless they're spies, yes. And he did." At their confused look he clarified, "He calls himself Shinrin, doesn't he? Then he has ties to Konoha." Brown eyes turned thoughtful. "That's probably a good thing."

Shinji raised a brow. "Yeah?"

"They are generally more peaceful. If you approach him right you might get what you want from him." Another chuckle. "Oh, don't look like that. You want more shinobi on your side and Shinrin-san might suit. The best way to accomplish that is to make a contract, like you have with me. No shinobi will break their contract as long as the terms of the agreement are met."

"Well, it is preferable," Juushirou agreed. "No offence to you, but some of your people…." He trailed off with a sigh.

A nod and a smile. "Do not worry. I know what they can be like." A thoughtful tilt of his head. "Would you mind if I saw him?"

"Not at all," Shunsui said, swallowing the last few bites before rising. "Might help if you can identify him."

The others finished their meals in a hurry and followed the two of them to the room where Shinrin was held. Kisuke just abandoned his food to wander after them.

Shinrin was still chained in the same spot they'd left him, Retsu seated at one of the tables to the side, calmly enjoying a pot of tea. Shunsui felt sorry for the young man. After this long his knees had to be killing him though you couldn't tell by looking at him. Not the slightest hint of discomfort. Admirable.

Shinrin, having sensed their approach, turned his head so he could watch them from the corner of his eyes.

Next to Shunsui, the young shinobi froze. Quietly breathed for a few long seconds, before stepping forward and crossing the threshold, kneeling a few feet from Shinrin.

For several long moments no one moved as the two shinobi studied each other.

A soft inhale. "Well," their young shinobi said, "I can honestly say I did not expect to see you here… Sasuke-san."

Shinrin's eyes opened a fraction wider, allowing them to catch a glimpse of the unsettling bright crimson Soujun had talked about. For the first time in hours Shunsui thought he might see a tiny hint of emotion on Shinrin's face.

"… Haku." A slow flutter of long lashes that would have been a blink if his eyes had been properly opened. "It has been a long time."

Shunsui blinked, caught off guard. Identifying each other was one thing, but this… "… You two _know_ each other?"

* * *

 **It is never mentioned in the manga, but I think it's fair to assume that shinobi, especially those of higher rank, were trained to resist interrogation. Hence my invention of the Kaijin meditation. The origin of the meditation dates back to the Warring States Period and developed separately within different Clans, which is why there are different names for what's basically the same technique. It is not a skill that is taught to outsiders and is near impossible to imitate since it's a passive skill that does not require any outward action (such as handsigns etc.). Even after the formation of the villages the technique remained a secret. Only after the Shinobi Alliance did the variety of names become known to all villages.**

 **I know very little Japanese so the names I gave the meditation are probably a little off, but here are the translations:**

 **Kaijin = ash/embers/complete destruction (can also be written as mysterious person; Konoha)**

 **Reiketsu = cold-bloodedness/cold-heartedness (general term)**

 **Chimonamidamonai = heart of stone/cold-blooded/unfeeling/heartless/inconsiderate (Iwa)**

 **Kanryuu = cold current (Kiri)**

 **Note for the people who were disappointed to see more shinobi besides Sasuke in this story: I warn you right now that more are coming. There is a reason why I mentioned Edo Tensei in previous chapters. I wanted a nice but hard to repeat reason for why there are suddenly shinobi in Soul Society (Sasuke's appearance will be explained later) which gives me a few nice characters to play with without dragging the whole Naruto cast in. I'm certainly not going to use everyone who was resurrected by the Edo Tensei, but expect a few to appear.**

 **Thank you for reading and please leave a review on your way out. Till next time!**


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